_ yj> _  . 

INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

WORLD  SURVEY 
CONFERENCE 

ATLANTIC  CITY 
JANUARY  7  to  10,  1920 

PRELIMINARY 

Statement  and  Budget  for 
Home  Missions 


•  PREPARED  BY 

SURVEY  DEPARTMENT- HOME  MISSIONS  DIVISION 


THIS  Survey  statement 
should  be  read  in  the  light 
of  the  fact  that  it  is  preliminary 
only,  and  will  be  revised  and 
enlarged  as  a  result  of  the  dis¬ 
cussions  and  recommendations 
of  the  World  Survey  Conference. 

The  entire  Survey  as  revised 
will  early  be  brought  together  in 
two  volumes,  American  and 
Foreign,  to  form  the  basis  of  the 
financial  campaign  to  follow. 

The  “Statistical  Mirror”  will 
make  a  third  volume  dealing  with 
general  church,  missionary  and 
stewardship  data. 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 


WORLD  SURVEY 
CONFERENCE 


ATLANTIC  CITY 
JANUARY  7  to  10,  1920 

PRELIMINARY 

Statement  and  Budget  for 
Home  Missions 


PREPARED  BY 

SURVEY  DEPARTMENT- HOME  MISSIONS  DIVISION 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction  . 

5 

Cities . 

....  15 

Metropolitan  New  York . 

....  37 

Town  and  Country . 

....  49 

Negro  Americans  . 

....  67 

Migrant  Groups . 

....  87 

New  Americans . 

....  105 

North  Americans  Indians . 

....  119 

Orientals  in  the  United  States . 

....  125 

AA/oar  TnHip<3  . 

....  137 

Budget  Tables . 

....  147 

Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/worldsurveyconfe00inte_4 


HOME  MISSIONS 
SURVEY  TABLES 


146 


HOME  MISSIONS 


HOME  MISSIONS 
DIVISION 


General  Budget  Statement 

HOME  MISSIONS 


Table  I. — By  Denominations  and  Boards 


Board 

1919 

1920 

Total 

5  Years 

1 

BAPTIST 

Northern,  Baptist  Convention 

American  Baptist  Publication  Society.  . 

$2,246,705 

$30,260,861 

1  50  000 

2 

National  Baptist  Convention  (Colored) 

Church  Extension  Board . 

#50  000 

3 

4 

Seventh  Day  Baptists 

Seventh  Day  Baptist  Missionary  Society . 

BRETHREN  . 

Church  of  the  Brethren 

General  Mission  Board . 

4,450 

85,000 

9,000 

21,071 

11,150 

200,000 

55,750 

l  oon  nnn 

5 

Brethren  Church 

General  Missionary  Board . 

fjvvvJOVv 

6 

CHRISTIAN  . 

Christian  Church 

Home  Mission  Board . 

5fi  850 

186  78 n 

7 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions. . 

J  OO,  /  oU 

87  000 

8 

CONGREGATIONAL 

Congregational  Churches 

Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society.  .  . 

355,000 

983,000 

400,000  (1) 

710,000 

1,280,700 

600,000  (1) 

3,550,000 

8  34.5  856 

9 

Congregational  Church  Building  Society. 

10 

DISCIPLES  . 

Disciples  of  Christ 

United  Christian  Missionary  Society. . . . 

0,J  ijjOjo 

2,500,000 
5,000,000  (1) 

466  30(5 

11 

Independent  State  Missionary  Societies. 

12 

EV  AN  UEL1  CAL 

Evangelical  Synod  of  N.  A. 

Central  Board  for  Home  Missions . 

60  000 

13 

Church  Extension . 

5  non 

i  c  nnn 

14 

FRIENDS  . 

Society  of  Friends  (Orthodox) 

Committee  on  Indian  Affairs . 

•TjUvU 

6,250 

9n  non 

33  730 

13 

Young  Friends  Board . 

19,500 

1 7  a  nnn 

16 

Augustana  Synod 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

16  296 

1  ZijUUU 

ei  480 

17 

Lutheran  Free  Church  (Norwegian) 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

No  definite  Bu 

dget 

2  519  56fi  f21 

18 

METHODIST  . 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

Freedmen’s  Aid  Society . 

1 1  CQ7  G'tn  /1\ 

19 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

J*y-J  1 S  yJKJKJ  ) 

523  000 

/  joJU  v*'/ 

2  61  e  nnn 

20 

Methodist  Protestant  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

80,000 

13,120 

Jiv  jWU 

125  OOO 

,0  X  J  ,UVA/ 

1,117,000  (4) 

6A  67  C 

21 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions. . 

jvVA/ 

12,925 

303  750 

22 

Free  Methodist  Church  of  North  America 

General  Missionary  Board . 

OijOZj 

1  749  700 

23 

MORAVIAN  . 

Moravian  Church 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

25,000 

1,398,310  (6) 

27  500 

X, #  i/j / uu 

167,889 

27,631,045  (8) 

10  289  ooo  noi 

24 

PRESBYTERIAN  . 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

4  71?Q4.5  (7\ 

25 

Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work. .  . 

1,573,000  (9) 
71 1  700  M  1\ 

26 

Board  of  Church  Erection . 

467,010 

400,000 

3,701,200(12) 
9,685,760  (14) 

350  OOO 

27 

Board  of  Missions  for  Freedmen. . 

/  1 1,/UU  V.  a  1/ 

1 400  ooo  n3i 

28 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions. . 

1  036  000  n  51 

29 

Independent  Synods  and  Presbyteries. . . 

1,400,000 

1,892,342 

HOME  MISSIONS 


147 


HOME  MISSIONS 


Table  I. — By  Denominations  and  Boards— Continued 


Board 

1919 

1920 

Total 

5  Years 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34. 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.,  South 

$1,000,000 

16,000 

231,407 

Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod 

$100,000 

United  Presbyterian  Church 

$397,880 

2,687,607 

88'487 

257,621 

1,368,495  (16) 

489,800  (17) 

1,685,000  (18) 

J*± 

35 

36 

37 

'lO 

REFORMED 

Reformed  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

250,000 

3,000,000 

23jl85 

61,570 

25,200 

149,750 

UNITED  BRETHREN 

Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Christ 

150,180 

813,400 

135,000 

500,170 

2,500,850 

JO 

UNITED  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH 

116,063 

600,500 

jy 

AC\ 

UNIVERSALIST  CHURCHES 

4,945 

10,420 

61,025 

1.  For  Women’s  Department. 

2.  Includes  $254,000  for  new  buildings  and  $1,520,000  for  Schoo 

3.  nicfudes  e$l,225,000  for  new  buildings  and  $7,600,000  for  School 
Endowments. 

4.  50  per  cent,  of  this  for  new  buildings. 

6.  Includes  $286,404  for  debt.  . .  .  ,  ,  _  ,  , 

7.  Includes  $1,801,900  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of 

Church  Erection.  . ,  .  ,  ,  _  ,  r 

8.  Includes  $10,350,000  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of 

Church  Erection.  . 

9.  Does  not  include  $278,000  for  Publication  Work. 

10.  Does  not  include  $1,100,000  for  Publication  Work.  . 

11.  Includes  $300,000  for  buildings  for  Board  of  Home  Missions 

12.  Includes  $1,400,000  for  buildings  for  Board  of  Home  Missions 
projects. 


13.  Includes  $600,000  for  school  endowments. 

14.  Includes  $4,464,960  for  school  endowments. 

15.  Includes  $350,000  for  new  buildings. 

16.  Includes  $500,000  for  school  endowments. 

17.  Includes  $420,000  for  new  buildings. 

18.  Includes  $1,250,000  for  new  buildings  and  equipment. 

NAMES  IN  CAPITALS,  AS  ADVENTIST,  are  denominational  family 
names. 

Names  in  capitals  and  small  capitals,  as  Advent  Christian  Church 
are  names  of  particular  denominations. 

Names  which  are  in  regular  roman  type  and  which  are  numbered 
serially  are  names  of  Boards  or  Societies,  as: 

1.  American  Advent  Mission  Society. 

2.  Woman’s  Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Society. 


. 


HOME  MISSIONS 


149 


HOME  MISSIONS 
DIVISION 

General  Budget  Statement  for 

HOME  MISSIONS 

Table  II.— By  Types  of  Work 


Estimates  of  Denominational  Boards 
and  Societies 


Type  of  Work 


Amounts  Required  for  Ap¬ 
proved  Projects  as  Dis¬ 
closed  by  Field  Surveys 
But  Not  Yet  Covered 
By  Denominational 
Budgets 


Total 


Cities . 

Town  and  Country.  . 
Negro  Americans  .... 

New  Americans . 

Migrant  Groups . 

North  American 

Indians . 

Spanish  Speaking 
j£.  People  in  the 

United  States . 

Orientals  in  the 
['  United  States  .... 

Alaska . 

West  Indies . 

Sunday  School 

Extension . 

Recruiting  and 
Training  Workers 

Promotion . 

Administration . 


TOTAL 


1919 


3  1,409,975 
1,184,098 
710,827 
211,730 
42,400 

165,934 


105,983 

278,587 

50,460 

163,458 

2,000 

132,024 

60,305 

424,082 


310,652,891  * 


1920 


34,666,449 

3,559,175 

5,477,957 

2,232,100 

89,800 

295,954 


576,019 

647,494 

207,450 

2,442,701 

850,350 

637,100 

386,000 

577,173 


323,592,756  * 


5  Years 


331,880,513 

22,966,962 

31,424,855 

13,768,207 

679,800 

1,492,360 


2,679,319 

2,901,802 

1,374,350 

10,174,489 

5,959,000 

3,698,500 

2,950,000 

3,728,835 


3181,977,016 


1920 


325,000,000 

2,584,000 


5  Years 


3125,000,000 

16,520,000 


1920 


329,666,449 

6,143,175 

5,477,957 

2,432,100 

1,089,800 

512,954 


576,019 

647,494 

207,450 

3,622,701 

850,350 

637,100 

386,000 

577,173 


■353,773,756 


5  Years 


3156,880,513 

39,486,962 

31,424,855 

14,768,207 

5,679,800 

2,652,360 


2,679,319 

2,901,802 

1,374,350 

11,790,489 

5,959,000 

3,698,500 

2,950,000 

3,728,835 


'3332,273,016 


200,000 

1,000,000 

217,000 

1,000,000 

5,000,000 

1,160,000 

1,180,000 

1,616,000 

330,181,000 


3150,296,000 


*  The  totals  include  items  reported  in  bulk  but  not  distributed  as  to  type  of  work. 


150 


HOME  MISSIONS 


HOME  MISSIONS 
DIVISION 


General  Budget 


HOME 


Table  III. — By  Boards 


( See  explanatory  footnotes  on  first  page  of  table ) 


Section  I. — 


1 

2 

3 

BOARD 

Cities 

Town  and  Country 

New  Americans 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1 

BAPTIST 

Northern  Baptist  Convention 

Woman’s  American  Baptist  Home  Mis¬ 
sion  Society . . 

35,799 

140,471 

872,487 

7,117 

10,794 

79,578 

45,106 

64,326 

485,352 

2 

Church  Extension  Board . 

3 

Seventh  Day  Baptists 

Seventh  Day  Baptist  Missionary  Society.  . 

4,450 

11,150 

74,000 

55,750 

370,000 

4 

BRETHREN 

Church  of  the  Brethren 

General  Mission  Board . 

51,000 

120,000 

600,000 

31,450 

850 

2,000 

10,000 

5 

Brethren  Church 

General  Missionary  Board . 

6 

CHRISTIAN 

Christian  Church 

Home  Mission  Board . 

600 

650 

8,450 

7 

Foreign  Mission  Board . 

8 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

1,550 

1,500 

25,000 

9 

CONGREGATIONAL 

Congregational  Churches 

American  Missionary  Association . 

10 

Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society.. 

11 

Congregational  Church  Building  Society.  . 

706,875 

890,775 

5,804,302 

235,625 

296,925 

1,934,767 

41,600 

54,000 

362,500 

700,000 

12 

DISCIPLES 

Disciples  of  Christ 

United  Christian  Missionary  Society . 

3,012,500 

120,000 

2,243,500 

13 

independent  State  Missionary  Societies.  . . 

14 

EVANGELICAL 

Evangelical  Synod  of  N.  A. 

Central  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

15 

Immigrant  Mission . 

3  000 

i  c  nnn 

16 

FRIENDS 

Society  of  Friends  (Orthodox) 

Young  Friends  Board . 

17 

Committee  on  Indian  Affairs . . 

18 

LUTHERAN 

Augustana  Synod 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

16  296 

Cl  4R0 

19 

METHODIST 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension . 

20 

Freedmen  s  Aid  Society . 

21 

Methodist-Episcopal  Church,  South 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

22 

Methodist  Protestant  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

85,000 

800,000 

t 

11,900 

33,000 

11,425 

41,000 

287,000 

57,125 

362,500 

t 

1,220 

7,000 

1,500 

30,000 

30,000 

7,500 

209,050 

23 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

24 

Free  Methodist  Church  of  N.  A. 

General  Missionary  Board . 

172,000 

727,750 

25 

MORAVIAN 

Moravian  Church 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

1,500 

6,500 

1,000 

....  1 

1 

2 

3 


4 

5 


6 

7 

8 


9 

10 
11 


12 

13 


14 

15 


16 

17 


18 


19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 


25 


HOME  MISSIONS 


151 


Statement 


MISSIONS 

and  By  Types  of  Work 


Columns  1  to  8 


4 

Orientals  in  the 
United  States 

5 

North  American 
Indians 

6 

Negroes 

7 

Spanish  Speaking 
People  in 

United  States 

8 

Alaska 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

7,887 

14,744 

96,062 

16,811 

21,774 

148,330 

44,660 

77,970 

507,220 

23,627 

38,771 

628,397 

7,400 

7,600 

45,400 

- 

850 

2,000 

10,000 

850 

2,00 

10 

JKJ 

2,230 

7,000 

72,00 

3,000 

t 

26,000 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

2,000 

t 

t 

i  ?,occ 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

t 

1,000 

5,000 

500,000 

5,900 

IOjGOL 

29,2S6 

125,000 

18,500 

1,000,000 

1  ^2, COO 

9,000 

50,000 

19,500 

20,000 

124,000 

)  134170 

134,170 

268,340 

2,519,566 

14,968 

12,597,830 

24,842 

4,968 

24,842 

42,500 

297,000 

9,250 

63,900 

9,000 

54,500 

i . 

r 

3,000 

10,000 

D . 

152 


HOME  MISSIONS 


HOME  MISSIONS 
DIVISION 


General  Bud 

HOME 


Table  III. — By  Boards 


( See  explanatory  footnotes  on  last  page  of  table ) 


Section  I — 


9 

10 

11 

BOARD 

Hawaii 

West  Indies 

Migrant  Groups 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1 

BAPTIST 

Northern  Baptist  Convention 

Woman’s  American  Baptist  Home  Mission 
Society . 

14,046 

17,606 

212,394 

2 

Church  Extension  Board . 

3 

Seventh  Day  Baptists 

Seventh  Day  Baptist  Missionary  Society.  . 

4 

BRETHREN 

Church  of  the  Brethren 

General  Mission  Board . 

S 

Brethren  Church 

General  Missionary  Board . 

6 

CHRISTIAN 

Christian  Church 

Home  Mission  Board . 

600 

2,000 

15,000 

7 

Foreign  Mission  Board . 

8 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

3,000 

3,000 

36,000 

9 

CONGREGATIONAL 

Congregational  Churches 

American  Missionary  Association . 

10 

Congregational  Home  Missionary  Society.. 

11 

Congregational  Church  Building  Society. .  . 

500 

2,500 

400,000 

12 

DISCIPLES 

Disciples  of  Christ 

United  Christian  Missionary  Society . 

12,000 

14,000 

64,000 

13 

independent  State  Missionary  Societies... . 

14 

EVANGELICAL 

Evangelical  Synod  of  N.  A. 

Central  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

15 

Immigrant  Mission . 

16 

FRIENDS 

Society  of  Friends  (Orthodox) 

Young  Friends  Board . 

17 

Committee  on  Indian  Affairs . 

18 

LUTHERAN 

Augustana  Synod 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

19 

METHODIST 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension  . 

20 

Freedmen’s  Aid  Society . 

21 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

22 

Methodist  Protestant  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

23 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

24 

Free  Methodist  Church  of  N.  A. 

General  Missionary  Board . 

25 

MORAVIAN 

Moravian  Church 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

2,000 

1 

2 

3 


4 

5 


6 

7 

8 


9 

10 

11 


12 

13 


14 

15 


16 

17 


18 


19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 


25 


HOME  MISSIONS 


153 


get  Statement 

MISSIONS 

md  by  Types  of  Work 

Columns  9  to  16 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


Sunday  School 
Extension 


Recruiting  and 
Training  Workers 


Promotion 


Administration 


Total 


1919 

1920 

5  Years’ 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Y  ears 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1 

20,424 

24,000 

134,000 

64,930 

91,650 

503,250 

2,246,705 

509  706 

27,910,693 

2 

50,000 

150,000 

3 

4,450 

11,510 

55,750 

4 

85,000 

200,000 

1,000,000 

5 

9,000 

6 

. . . .400 

6,900 

3,041 

3,600 

24,600 

21,071 

56,850 

501,900 

7 

. .  18,900 

8 1  *000 

8 

87,000 

9 

855,860 

1,190,000 

7,075,000 

10 

38,375 

695,360 

1,160,000 

6,500,000 

11 

40’000 

40,000 

200,000 

983,000 

1,280,700 

8*345j856 

12 

60,000 

10,000 

500,000 

14,500 

400,000 

600,000 

12,080,000 

13 

187^030 

312,300 

1,992,460 

14 

60,000 

466,306 

15 

3/100 

15/00 

16 

6,250 

33,750 

17 

19,500 

2o;ooc 

124,000 

18 

16,296 

81,480 

19 

134,170 

134,170 

268,340 

20 

% 

2,519,566 

12,597,830 

21 

...... 

26,150 

130,750 

523,000 

2,615,000 

V 

. 

80,000 

125,000 

1,117,000 

23 

13,120 

12^925 

64j625 

24 

5,000 

30,000 

303,750 

1,749,700 

25 

1,000 

25,000 

27,500 

167,889 

154 


HOME  MISSIONS 


HOME 

Table  III. — By  Boards  and 

Section  II. — 


26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 


35 

36 

37 


38 

39 


40 

41 

42 


43 

44 

45 


BOARD 

1 

Cities 

2 

Town  and  Country 

3 

New  Americans 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

PRESBYTERIAN 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School 
Work 

66,971 

337,000 

2,895,000 

381,698 

1,022,500 

6,639,500 

117,954 

1,370,000 

7,269,000 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 

’MnrjpppnH^nf  Synods  and  Presbyteries. 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  (South) 
Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions. .  . 

25,000 

80,000 

725,000 

245,000 

569,000 

3,341,000 

15,000 

47,000 

524,000 

Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex- 
tension 

United  Presbyterian  Church 

Rnard  of  Home  Missions  . 

Roard  of  Preedmen’s  Missions 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

REFORMED 

Reformed  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

Women’s  Missionary  Society  of  General 
Synod 

125,000 

3,000 

31,356 

93,750 

327,375 

225,000 

3,000 

74,600 

363,877 

11117125 

1,800,000 

17,600 

457,190 

1,819,387 

25,000 

7,835 

15,678 

31,250 

121,250 

75,000 

8,720 

37,300 

121,292 

413,750 

700,000 

54,470 

228,595 

606,462 

10,000 

36,375 

20,000 

124,125 

150,000 

UNITED  BRETHREN 

Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in 
Christ 

Home  Missionary  Society . 

Church  Erection  Society . 

independent  State  Associations . 

UNITED  EVANGELICAL 

United  Evangelical  Church 

Board  of  Missions  . 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

UNIVERSALIST 

Universalist  Churches 

Women’s  National  Missionary  Association 

4,045 

7,920 

49,025 

1,500 

7,500 

Line  12,  col.  4  (1919),  col.  6  (1919),  col.  7  (1919),  col.  10  (1919),  col.  11  (1919),  col.  13  (1919),  col.  15  (1919),  col.  16  (1919),  (1920),  (5  years)  — 
For  Women’s  Department. 

Line  20,  col.  6  (1920),  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $254,000  for  new  buildings  and  $1,250,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  20,  col.  6  (5  years),  col.  16  (5  years) — Includes  $1,225,000  for  new  buildings  and  $7,600,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  22,  col.  16  (5  years) — 50  per  cent,  of  this  for  new  buildings. 

Line  26,  col.  4  (1919) — Included  in  Budget  of  Foreign  Missions. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (1919) — Includes  $286,404  for  debt. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $1,801,900  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of  Church  Erection. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (5  years) — Includes  $10,350,000  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of  Church  Erection. 

Line  27,  col.  16  (1920) — Does  not  include  $278,000  for  publication  work. 


HOME  MISSIONS 


155 


MISSIONS 

By  Types  of  Work — Continued 

Columns  1  to  8 


4 

Orientals  in  the 
United  States 

5 

North  American 
Indians 

6 

Negroes 

7 

Spanish  Speaking 
People  in 

United  States 

8 

Alaska 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

103,473 

211,000 

1,396,000 

47,856 

250,000 

1,716  000 

33,060 

199,850 

1,278,950 

400,000 

1,400,000 

9,685,760 

7,000 

23,000 

197,000 

14,000 

28,000 

302,000 

23,000 

102,000 

415,000 

21,000 

47,000 

333,000 

82,687 

251,821 

1,339,495 

16,000 

4,000 

3  5 ,000 

5,000 

80,000 

28,400 

3,000 

150 

5,000 

180 

25,000 

1,030 

1,000 

300 

2,000 

300 

15,000 

1,800 

4,500 

26,280 

57,580 

26 

77 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 


34 

35 

36 

37 


38 

39 


40 

41 

42 


43 

44 


45 


Line  27,  col.  16  (5  years) — Does  not  include  SI, 100, 000  for  publication  work. 

Line  28,  col.  16  (1920)— Includes  S330.000  for  buildings  for  Board  of  Home  Missions  projects. 
Line  28,  col.  16  (Years)— Includes  Sl,400,000  for  buildings,  for  Board  of  Home  Missions  projects. 
Line  30,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  S600.000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  30,  col.  16  (5  Years) — Includes  54,464,960  for  school  endowments. 

Line  31,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $350,000  for  new  buildings. 

Line  36,  col.  6  (5  Years),  col.  16  (5  Years)— Includes  $500,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  37,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $420,000  for  new  buildings. 

Line  37,  col.  16  (5  Years) — Includes  $1,250,000  for  new  buildings  and  equipment. 

♦State  organizations  doing  home  mission  work. 

tWork  done  under  this  head,  but  exact  amount  not  ascertainable. 


156 


HOME  MISSIONS 


HOME 

Table  III. — By  Boards  and 

Section  II. — 


9 

10 

11 

BOARD 

Hawaii 

West  Indies 

Migrant  Groups 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

26 

27 

PRESBYTERIAN 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

132,412 

925,095 

4,424,095 

25,000 

85,000 

585,000 

26 

Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School 
Work  . 

27 

28 

29 

30 

Board  of  Church  Erection . 

28 

Roard  of  Missions  for  Ereedmen  . 

29 

Woman’s  Board  of  Home  Missions . 

30 

3i 

independent  Synods  and  Presbyteries . 

31 

32 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  (South) 
Executive  Committee  of  Home  Missions..  . 

32 

33 

independent  Synods  and  Presbyteries . 

33 

34 

Associate  Reformed  Presbyterian  Synod 
Board  of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Ex¬ 
tension 

34 

35 

United  Presbyterian  Church 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

35 

36 

Board  of  Freedmen’s  Missions . 

36 

37 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

37 

38 

REFORMED 

Reformed  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

Board  of  Home  Missions . 

38 

39 

Women’s  Missionary  Society  of  General 
Synod . 

2,800 

2,800 

15,800 

39 

40 

UNITED  BRETHREN 

Church  of  the  United  Brethren  in 
Christ 

Home  Missionary  Society . 

40 

41 

Church  Erection  Society . 

41 

42 

independent  State  Associations . 

42 

43 

UNITED  EVANGELICAL 

United  Evangelical  Church 

Board  of  Missions . 

43 

44 

Board  of  Church  Extension . 

44 

45 

UNIVERSALIST 

Universalist  Churches 

Women’s  National  Missionary  Association 

45 

Line  12,  col.  4  (1919),  col.  6  (1919),  col.  7  (1919),  col.  10  (1919),  col.  11  (1919),  col.  13  (1919),  col.  15  (1919),  col.  16  (1919),  (1920),  (5  years)- 
For  Women's  Department. 

Line  20,  col.  6  (1920),  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $254,000  for  new  buildings  and  $1, 250,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  20,  col.  6  (5  years),  col.  16  (5  years) — Includes  $1,225,000  for  new  buildings  and  $7,600,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  22,  col.  16  (5  years) — 50  per  cent,  of  this  for  new  buildings. 

Line  26,  col.  4  (1919) — Included  in  Budget  of  Foreign  Missions. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (1919) — Includes  $286,404  for  debt. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $1,801,900  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of  Church  Erection. 

Line  26,  col.  16  (5  years) — Includes  $10,350,000  for  buildings  not  provided  for  by  Board  of  Church  Erection. 

Line  27,  col.  16  (1920) — Does  not  include  $278,000  for  publication  work. 


HOME  MISSIONS 


157 


MISSIONS 

By  Types  of  Work — Continued 

Columns  9  to  16 


12 

Sunday  School 
Extension 

13 

Recruiting  and 
Training  Workers 

14 

Promotion 

15 

Administration 

16 

Total 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

1919 

1920 

5  Years 

26 

46,500 

207,500 

1,257,500 

48,305 

55  000 

230  000 

94,500 

150  000 

940  000 

1,398,310 

4  712  945 

28  731  045 

27 

829000 

5,814,0 

00 . 

380,000 

2,120,000 

310,000 

2,085,000 

54,000 

270,000 

1,573,000 

10,289,000 

28 

50,000 

55,000 

307,500 

467  010 

711  700 

3  701,200 

29 

400,000 

1  400,000 

9,685,760 

30 

1  036,000 

6,350,000 

31 

1  400  000 

1  892,342 

1 1  000,000 

32 

25,000 

27,000 

157,000 

375,000 

923,000 

6,494,000 

33 

5,000,000 

ip 

34 

16,000 

100,000 

35 

14  000 

20  000 

100  000 

231  407 

397,880 

2,687,607 

36 

5,800 

5,800 

39,000 

88,487 

257,621 

1,378,495 

37 

4,000 

4  800 

30  000 

489,800 

1,685,000 

38 

2,000 

5,000 

35,000 

1,000 

8,000 

50,000 

4,000 

7,000 

45,000 

15,000 

18,000 

100,000 

250,000 

400,000 

3,000,000 

39 

1,100 

1,200 

7,300 

4,000 

4,000 

22,500 

23,185 

25,200 

149,750 

30 

10,035 

12,000 

70,035 

61,570 

150,180 

813,400 

41 

10,000 

15,000 

75^000 

1357)00 

500'l70 

2,500^850 

42 

28,005 

38,981 

1,898,670 

43 

116,063 

600,500 

44 

4,273 

45 

900 

1,000 

5,700 

4,945 

10,420 

61,025 

Line  27,  col.  16  (5  years) — Does  not  include  $1,100,000  for  publication  work. 

Line  28,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $330,000  for  buildings  for  Board  of  Home  Missions  projects. 
Line  28,  col.  16  (Years) — Includes  $1,400,000  for  buildings,  for  Board  of  Home  Missions  projects. 
Line  30,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $600,000  tor  school  endowments. 

Line  30,  col.  16  (5  Years) — Includes  $4,464,960  for  school  endowments. 

Ljne  31,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $350,000  for  new  buildings. 

Line  36,  col.  6  (5  Years),  col.  16  (5  Years) — Includes  $500,000  for  school  endowments. 

Line  37,  col.  16  (1920) — Includes  $420,000  for  new  buildings. 

Line  37,  col.  16  (5  Years) — Includes  $1,250,000  for  new  buildings  and  equipment. 

*State  organizations  doing  home  mission  work. 

tWork  done  under  this  head,  but  exact  amount  not  ascertainable. 


\ 


w; 


i 


THE  HOME  MISSIONS 

SURVEY 

Introduction 

THE  fields  covered  by  the  Home  Missions  Survey  are  the  United  States, 
Alaska,  Hawaii  and  the  West  Indies.  By  agreement  with  the  Foreign 
Survey  Division,  the  work  of  the  foreign  missionary  societies  operating  in 
any  of  this  territory  is  included  for  survey  and  budget  making  purposes  in  the  Home 
Missions  Division. 

By  agreement  with  the  American  Educational  Division,  the  schools  for  Negroes, 
mountain  people,  American  Indians,  Spanish-speaking  people  in  the  United  States 
and  the  schools  in  Alaska,  Hawaii  and  the  West  Indies  are  being  surveyed  by  the 
Home  Missions  Division. 

By  agreement  with  the  American  Religious  Education  Division,  the  information  re¬ 
garding  the  Sunday  School  and  other  religious  educational  agencies  in  the  local 
communities  is  being  gathered  by  those  making  the  survey  in  the  Home  Missions 
Division. 

By  agreement  with  the  American  Hospitals  and  Homes  Division,  the  approach  for 
the  survey  of  these  institutions  in  Alaska,  Hawaii  and  the  West  Indies  is  made 
through  the  representatives  of  the  Home  Missions  Survey. 

An  arrangement  has  been  made  with  the  American  Educational  Division,  whereby 
there  is  a  united  approach  to  the  churches  involved  in  the  study  of  the  religious  life 
of  students  at  tax-supported  colleges  and  university  centers. 

In  other  numerous  ways  an  effort  is  being  made  to  coordinate  and  unify  the  making 
of  the  surveys  and  program  among  agencies  interested  in  the  same  mission  fields. 

The  Home  Missions  Division  is  receiving  budgets  from  the  general  home  mission 
boards,  the  women’s  home  mission  boards,  the  church  erection  boards  and  the  freed- 
men’s  aid  societies. 

The  Fields  Branch  of  the  Home  Missions  Survey  Division  is  responsible  for  gathering 
the  information  and  assembling  the  program  as  it  affects  budget  items  according  to 


8 


Introduction :  HOME  MISSIONS 


the  principles  proposed.  This  Branch  is  divided  into  City,  Rural,  Migrant  Groups, 
Alaska,  Hawaii  and  West  Indies  sections. 

Another  Branch  called  the  Coordination  Branch  is  responsible  for  the  interpretation 
of  the  material  gathered  from  the  field  as  it  affects  the  policies  and  programs  of  the 
different  types  or  phases  of  home  missions  as  they  are  usually  administered  by  home 
mission  agencies.  This  Coordination  Branch  is  organized  into  the  following  sections: 
Cities,  Metropolitan  New  York,  Town  and  Country,  Negro  Americans,  Migrant 
Groups,  North  American  Indians,  Spanish-speaking  People  in  the  United  States, 
orientals  in  the  United  States,  Hawaii,  Alaska  and  the  West  Indies. 

It  is  fully  expected  that  the  survey  will  yield  data  sufficiently  comprehensive  to 
make  possible  the  preparation  of  a  series  of  volumes  dealing  with  all  of  these  vital 
problems  of  American  church  life. 


HOME  MISSIONS  SURVEY :  Introduction 


9 


The  American  Survey — A  National 

Self  -  Examination 


I.  PURPOSE  OF  THE  HOME 
MISSIONS  SURVEY 

1.  To  discover  the  unchurched  areas  and 
groups  and  the  un-Christian  factors  in  the 
social  life  of  the  United  States,  Alaska,  Hawaii 
and  the  West  Indies. 

2.  To  aid  the  churches,  by  the  process  of  self- 
examination,  to  estimate  their  own  material 
and  spiritual  resources  and  to  discover  ways 
and  means  by  which  these  resources  may  be 
developed  to  their  highest  usefulness. 

3.  To  state  an  adequate  program  to  meet  the 
needs  discovered  in  the  survey,  which  program 
can  be  budgeted  in  terms  or  policies  involved, 
leadership  required  and  money. 

4.  To  appraise  the  impact  and  influence  of  each 
individual  church  and  mission  station  upon  its 
own  constituency  and  its  own  community  in 
order  to  help  it  to  provide  for  public  worship, 
religious  education  and  its  share  of  community 
service. 

5.  To  avoid  the  exhaustion  possible  through 
competitive  enterprises  and  to  eliminate  the 
waste  of  over-lapping,  thus  planning  for  the 
most  economical  as  well  as  the  most  efficient 
distribution  of  church  forces. 

6.  To  create  a  feeling  of  common  purpose  and 
destiny  among  the  churches  by  means  of  a 
common  understanding  of  common  tasks  and 
by  helping  the  churches  of  a  given  community 
to  plan  their  programs  together. 

7.  To  establish  a  more  or  less  scientific  method 
for  the  location  of  churches  and  for  the  deter¬ 
mining  of  their  programs. 

II.  SPIRITUAL  SIGNIFICANCE 

The  spiritual  significance  of  this  survey  of  the 
churches  and  home  mission  stations  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  self-examination.  No  outside 
experts  or  disinterested  students  are  to  take 
stock  of  the  churches.  The  ministers,  laymen 


and  laywomen  are  provided  with  the  necessary 
schedules  and  plans  of  organization  to  secure 
this  thorough-going  investigation. 

III.  COUNTY  UNIT 

By  taking  the  county  as  the  unit  in  organizing 
the  survey,  it  is  possible 

1.  To  cover  all  the  territory. 

2.  To  locate  all  the  unchurched  areas  and 
groups. 

3.  To  indicate  all  the  normal  community 
centers. 

4.  To  associate  for  religious  purposes  the  peo¬ 
ple  who  have  a  common  social,  industrial  and 
civic  life. 

By  making  the  survey  denominationally  it 
would  hardly  be  possible  to  achieve  these  ends 
for: 

1.  There  are  areas  of  the  county  where  no 
denomination  is  at  work. 

2.  There  are  groups  of  people  unreached  by 
any  church. 

3.  The  denominational  approach  sees  com¬ 
munity  need  from  its  own  angle  only. 

IV.  SCOPE  AND  CONTENT 
OF  THE  SURVEY 

An  attempt  will  be  made  to  study  all  the  factors 
necessary  for  determining  the  program  of  the 
churches,  separately  and  in  cooperative  groups. 
For  example,  in  the  City  Section,  there  are  the 
following  schedules: 

1.  For  the  city  as  a  whole. 

This  schedule  will  reveal  those  needs  of  the 
entire  city  which  cannot  be  met  by  any  one 
church  or  group  of  churches. 

2.  For  the  different  districts  or  communities  in 
the  city. 

By  mapping  those  sections  of  the  larger  cities 


10 


Introduction :  HOME  MISSIONS 


which  have  a  life  more  or  less  in  common,  and 
where  the  churches  are  face  to  face  with  similar 
problems,  we  discover  those  social  units  whose 
needs  must  be  met  by  a  group  of  churches. 
This  schedule  will  reveal  the  common  social 
service  to  be  rendered  by  the  churches.  Prob¬ 
lems  of  housing,  health,  recreation,  vice  and 
crime,  delinquency,  etc.,  will  be  studied  in  re¬ 
lation  to  the  churches. 

3.  For  each  individual  church. 

Through  this  schedule,  the  growth  and  present 
strength  of  the  church  will  be  appraised.  The 
efficiency  of  its  organization,  its  property  and 
equipment,  its  staff  and  service  to  the  com¬ 
munity  will  be  investigated.  For  the  first  time, 
an  attempt  will  be  made  to  measure  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  each  individual  church  on  the  moral 
and  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  com¬ 
munity. 

The  needs  of  each  church  for  property,  equip¬ 
ment  and  staff,  over  a  period  of  five  years,  will 
be  set  down,  after  all  the  local  and  community 
factors  have  been  taken  into  account. 

4.  For  a  population  census. 

This  schedule  has  a  two-fold  purpose: 

a.  To  secure  data  for  immediate  use  by  the 
churches  in  an  ingathering  of  members  and 
special  evangelistic  efforts. 

b.  To  determine  the  population  factors  and 
the  tendencies  toward  any  changes  in  popu¬ 
lation  which  would  affect  the  program  of  the 
churches. 

In  the  rural  sections  a  similar  scheme  is  pro¬ 
vided  for  each  country;  i.e.,  there  are  the  follow¬ 
ing  schedules: 

a.  For  the  county  as  a  whole. 

b.  For  each  normal  community  or  trading 
center  in  the  county. 

c.  For  each  individual  church. 

d.  For  a  population  census. 

Schedules  with  certain  necessary  variations 
have  been  provided  for  Negro  churches  and 
communities,  distinctly  immigrant  communi¬ 
ties,  small  mining  and  other  industrial  com¬ 
munities,  the  Mex- Americans,  the  orientals  and 


the  American  Indians.  Special  studies  are  also 
being  made  of  exceptional  groups;  as  the  lum¬ 
ber  jacks,  the  migratory  harvest  workers  and 
the  laborers  in  the  small  fruit  and  canning 
industries. 

In  cooperation  with  the  American  Educational 
Division  a  study  will  be  made  of  the  growth, 
present  strength  and  future  needs  of  the  schools 
among  the  Negroes,  American  Indians,  Mex- 
Americans  and  mountain  people,  together  with 
those  in  Alaska,  Hawaii  and  the  West  Indies. 

V.  PROCEDURE  OF  THE  SURVEY 

The  above  purposes  are  realized,  for  example,  in 
a  given  rural  county  by  the  following  procedure: 

1.  A  county  supervisor  is  appointed,  usually 
one  of  the  younger  trained  ministers,  whose 
church  is  willing  to  release  him  temporarily  for 
this  service,  and  who  is  willing  himself  to  do 
the  work  for  the  enlargement  of  his  own 
knowledge  and  experience.  His  expenses  for 
the  survey  are  paid  by  the  Movement. 

2.  A  county  survey  council  is  formed  represent¬ 
ing  the  best  leadership  among  the  ministers  and 
the  laymen  of  all  the  denominations  having 
churches  in  the  county.  This  council  cooperates 
with  the  supervisor  and  passes  upon  the  find¬ 
ings. 

3.  A  map  of  the  county  is  made,  on  which  are 
indicated  the  location  of  all  the  churches,  the 
names  of  the  denominations,  the  circuit  systems, 
the  residences  of  the  pastors,  and  the  boundaries 
of  each  parish.  This  map,  when  completed, 
shows  at  once  all  of  the  normal  church  and 
community  centers  and  the  unevangelized 
areas. 

4.  The  supervisor  then  proceeds  to  visit  each 
community  and  each  local  church,  where  in 
consultation  with  the  people,  on  the  ground, 
the  schedules  are  filled  out. 

5.  After  the  map  is  completed  and  all  informa¬ 
tion  from  the  county  is  gathered,  the  county 
council  summons  representatives  from  all  the 
churches  in  the  county  to  the  meeting  at  the 
county-seat,  to  which  also  the  church  officials, 
general  and  missionary,  over  the  territory  are 
invited.  At  this  meeting  the  tabulated  results 
of  the  survey  are  made  known,  the  condition  of 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Introduction 


11 


all  the  churches  in  all  of  the  communities  is 
discussed,  and  the  unchurched  areas  and  groups 
are  allotted  by  common  consent.  As  each 
situation  is  taken  up,  the  needs  are  debated 
fully  and  recommendations  for  a  five-year 
program  are  made.  No  recommendation  is 
accepted  unless  unanimous. 

6.  These  recommendations  are  later  submitted 
to  a  meeting  of  the  State  Survey  Council,  which 
is  officially  appointed  and  represents  the  de¬ 
nominational  missionary  agencies  functioning 
within  the  state. 

7.  Each  denominational  missionary  superin¬ 
tendent  is  then  asked  to  review  the  budget 
items  that  affect  his  churches  and  submit  them 
if  necessary  to  the  proper  society  or  board  for 
approval. 

8.  The  State  Survey  Council  is  then  asked  to 
consider  and  approve  all  of  the  items  of  the 
budget.  Each  denominational  representative 
on  the  State  Survey  Council  will  be  asked  to 
affix  his  signature  to  the  budget  program  sheet 
opposite  the  budget  items  of  the  churches  of 
his  denomination. 

VI.  PRINCIPLES  FOR  MAKING  A 

PROGRAM  AND  BUDGET 

As  a  guide  to  the  denominational  superintend¬ 
ents  and  local  church  officials  in  the  making  of 
a  program  and  budget,  the  following  principles 
have  been  discussed  by  the  National  Council 
of  Review,  a  body  composed  of  officially 
appointed  representatives  from  the  mission 
boards  and  societies  concerned.  At  their  re¬ 
quest  these  proposals  have  been  submitted  to 
all  the  Boards  for  official  approval.  Favorable 
action  is  being  received  as  fast  as  boards  are 
able  to  discuss  and  pass  upon  them.  By  this 
means  it  is  hoped  that  it  may  be  possible  to  get 
an  agreement  on  the  administration  of  future 
missionary  funds  in  the  wisest  and  most  states¬ 
manlike  manner. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  as  such  does  not  undertake  any 
administrative  action  of  any  sort  that  involves 
any  function  of  the  duly  constituted  denomina¬ 
tional  agencies.  Before  any  item  in  the  program 
is  effective  it  must  be  passed  upon  by  the  de¬ 
nominational  agency  involved.  The  county 


and  state  councils  are  so  organized  as  to  provide 
the  channels  by  which  the  recommendations  of 
the  survey  reach  the  respective  denominational 
agencies. 

1.  UNCHURCHED  TERRITORY 

What  principles  should  determine  the  allocation 
of  unchurched  territory  and  groups?  The 
following  have  been  proposed: 

a.  The  population.  It  is  our  judgment  that 
there  should  not  be,  under  ordinary  circum¬ 
stances,  more  than  one  church  for  one  thousand 
evangelical  population. 

b.  The  religious  preference  of  residents  in  the 
community  as  shown  by  the  survey  and  the 
population  census. 

c.  Geographical  facts. 

d.  The  ability,  in  men  and  money  and  super¬ 
vision,  of  the  denomination  to  place  a  resident 
pastor. 

e.  The  equitable  distribution  of  responsibility 
among  all  denominations. 

2.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  FORCES 

What  factors  should  be  taken  into  account  in 
a  more  economical  distribution  of  our  present 
forces?  The  following  procedure  has  been  pro¬ 
posed  : 

a.  That  the  democratic  principle  of  local  self- 
determination  be  followed  as  far  as  possible. 

b.  That,  depending  upon  the  denominational 
connections  of  the  churches  in  a  given  com¬ 
munity,  we  recommend: 

(1.)  As  preferable,  the  formation  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  a  single  denominational  church 
and  the  uniting  of  churches  in  the  preferred 
donomination. 

(2.)  The  entire  withdrawal  of  one  church 
form  a  field  and  a  reciprocal  exchange  of  an 
equivalent  opportunity  in  some  other  com¬ 
munity  to  the  denomination  which  with¬ 
draws. 

(3.)  A  federation  of  denominational  churches 
with  the  maintenance  of  their  denominational 
connections. 

c.  That  the  development  of  a  given  church  by 


12 


Introduction :  HOME  MISSIONS 


an  adequate  program  and  ministry  be  taken 
into  consideration. 

3.  BUDGET  PROJECTS 

What  projects  should  be  admitted  to  the  budget 
for  missionary  aid?  The  classification  attached 
has  been  agreed  to  in  a  conference  of  home 
mission  board  secretaries. 

Principle  A.  Purely  Missionary  Responsi¬ 
bilities. 

Church  projects  in  fields  where  a  given  church 
is  wholly  or  chiefly  responsible  for  religious  and 
social  life  and  can  be  made  to  meet  adequately 
these  needs  along  lines  of  worship,  religious 
education  and  community  service,  and  where 
adequate  aid  must  be  given  on  a  purely  mis¬ 
sionary  basis. 


Principle  B.  Urgent  Home  Base  Opportunity 
Situations  Where  Aid  Is  Necessary. 

Church  projects  upon  which  the  community  is 
dependent  for  religious  and  social  life,  which 
can  be  made  to  meet  those  needs  adequately, 
but  where  local  constituencies  cannot  provide 
the  kind  of  program  needed  now  in  order  to 
place  the  church  within  the  five-year  period  on 
a  basis  not  only  self-sustaining,  but  able  to  give 
support  to  world  evangelization  in  financial 
aid,  spiritual  life  and  Christian  leadership. 

Principle  C.  Special  Denominational  Obliga¬ 
tions. 

Special  projects  which  the  denominations  must 
undertake  in  order  to  meet  their  missionary 
obligations. 


THE  CITIES 


THE  CITIES 


The  City  is  the  Modern  Miracle 


SOME  call  the  city  the  modern  “Pandora’s  Box”  with  its  traditional  mixture 
of  good  and  evil.  Others  are  sure  it  is  an  evil  genius  spreading  its  baneful 
influences  over  the  country,  bringing  ruin  and  disaster  wherever  it  touches. 

In  any  event  there  it  is — splendid,  powerful,  dominant.  Sphinxlike,  it  holds  its  own 
story.  But  hope  remains.  Some  day  it  will  be  lifted  out  of  its  sordidness  and  squalor. 

Its  “great  white  ways”  will  become  the  highways  of  our  God. 

The  forces  responsible  for  its  growth  march  on  with  inexorable  law.  No  attempt  to 
sidetrack  its  development  has  ever  succeeded  nor  can  succeed. 

Aristotle  limited  the  ideal  city  to  10,000  inhabitants.  Plutarch  and  Cicero  sought 
by  persuasion  to  turn  back  the  current  of  immigration  from  the  country.  Justinian 
tried  to  stop  it  by  legal  measures. 

The  Tudors  and  the  Stuarts  issued  proclamations  forbidding  the  erection  of  new  houses 
in  London  and  enjoining  the  country  people  to  return  to  their  homes. 

The  extension  of  Paris  beyond  certain  limits  was  prohibited  by  law  at  various  periods 
from  1549  to  1672. 

For  hundreds  of  years  efforts  have  been  made  to  divert  the  tide  that  flowed  to  the 
great  centers  but  without  avail.  Neither  persuasion  nor  legislation  were  effective. 

The  city  has  developed  in  spite  of  the  wisdom  of  philosophers  and  the  edicts  of  rulers 
because  the  growth  of  populations  and  their  manner  of  making  a  living  are  deter¬ 
mined  by  forces  over  which  neither  kings  nor  philosophers  have  ultimate  control. 

The  great  human  tide  which  has  always  drifted  from  rural  communities  to  the  larger 
centers  of  population  still  continues.  Boys  and  girls  born  on  the  countryside  migrate 
by  the  thousands  to  the  cities  on  reaching  years  of  maturity  despite  every  effort 
to  keep  them  “on  the  farm.” 

Great  industrial  and  commercial  enterprises  claim  these  young  men  and  women, 
adding  them  to  the  vast  reservoir  of  city  life.  These  in  turn,  marry  and  rear  familes, 
scarcely  any  member  of  which  reverts  to  type  by  seeking  to  make  a  home  in  rural 
districts  or  small  country  towns. 


16 


Cities :  HOME  MISSIONS 


HOW  CITIES  HAVE  GROWN 

The  City  Is  a  World  Phenomenon 

y^T  THE  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  Europe  had  only  seven  cities 
with  a  population  of  100,000  and  over.  At  its  end  there  were  not  more 
i  m.  than  fourteen.  From  1700  to  1800  the  number  and  population  of  great 
cities  increased  about  50  per  cent.,  there  being  21  large  cities  at  the  end  of  the  century. 

Beginning  with  the  year  1800  the  growth  of  European  cities  went  forward  with  great 
bounds.  In  fifty  years  the  number  of  cities  of  100,000  more  than  doubled.  During 
the  next  fifty  years,  or  in  1900,  their  number  was  increased  to  168. 

Today  over  four-fifths  of  the  population  of  the  United  Kingdom  lives  in  cities.  While 
London  is  probably  2,000  years  old,  four-fifths  of  its  growth  has  been  added  dur¬ 
ing  this  century.  Paris  is  more  than  four  times  as  large  as  it  was  in  1800  and  Petro- 
grad,  up  to  the  time  of  the  war  had  increased  nearly  threefold  in  75  years. 

Many  of  the  cities  of  Asia  have  grown  in  the  same  proportion.  Canada  is  a  rural 
country  but  its  cities  have  grown  at  an  enormous  rate. 

The  vast  stretches  of  western  Canada  still  remain  sparsely  inhabited,  while  such  cities 
as  Toronto,  Quebec,  Montreal  and  Hamilton  have  added  to  their  populations  with  a 
rapidity  scarcely  exceeded  by  that  of  the  great  cities  on  the  American  side  of  the 
border. 

In  1800  there  were  six  cities  in  the  United  States  with  a  population  of  8,000  and 
over,  as  follows:  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Baltimore,  Boston,  Charleston  and 
Salem.  These  cities  had  a  combined  population  of  about  200,000  or  less  than  the 
total  population  of  Portland,  Oregon,  which  ranks  twenty-eighth  among  the  cities 
of  the  country. 

From  1900  to  1910  the  population  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole  increased  21  per 
cent.  The  rural  population  increased  11.2  per  cent.,  whereas  the  cities  of  25,000  and 
over,  of  which  there  were  229,  increased  55  per  cent. 

In  1910  more  than  one-half  the  population  of  New  York  state  lived  in  New  York 
City,  and  nearly  one- tenth  of  the  total  population  of  the  United  States  lived  in 
three  cities — New  York,  Chicago  and  Philadelphia,  while  one-fourth  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  country  lived  on  one  four-hundredth  of  the  total  land  area. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


17 


CITIES  INCREASING  MORE 
THAN  100  PER  CENT. 

ROM  1900  to  1910,  twenty-two  cities  in 
the  United  States  increased  over  100  per 
cent,  in  their  population.  Though  full  statistics 
are  not  yet  available  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the 
churches  have  had  no  such  high  percentages  of 
growth. 


CITIES  INCREASING  MORE  THAN 

100  PER 

CENT.  FROM  1900  TO  1910 

Popula- 

Rate  of 

Rank  City 

tion 

Increase 

1910 

1900-1910 

.  | 

1  Oklahoma  City,  Okla. . . 

64,205 

539.7 

2  Muskogee,  Okla . 

25,278 

494.2 

3  Birmingham,  Ala . 

132,685 

245.4 

4  Pasadena,  Calif . 

30,291 

232.2 

5  Los  Angeles,  Calif . 

319,198 

211.5 

6  Berkeley,  Calif . 

40,434 

206.0 

7  Flint,  Michigan . 

38,550 

194.2 

8  Seattle,  Wash . 

237,194 

194.0 

9  Spokane,  Wash . 

104,402 

183.3 

10  Fort  Worth,  Texas . 

73,312 

174.7 

11  Huntington,  W.  Va . 

31,161 

161.4 

12  El  Paso,  Texas . 

39,279 

146.9 

13  Tampa,  Florida . 

37,782 

138.5 

14  Schenectady,  N.  Y . 

72,826 

129.9 

15  Portland,  Oregon . 

207,214 

129.2 

16  Oakland,  Calif . 

150,174 

124.3 

17  San  Diego,  Calif . 

39,572 

123.6 

18  Tacoma,  Wash . 

83,743 

122.0 

19  Dallas,  Texas . 

92,104 

116.0 

20  Wichita,  Kansas . 

52,460 

112.6 

21  Waterloo,  Iowa . 

26,693 

112.2 

22  Jacksonville,  Fla . 

57,699 

103.0 

URBAN  AND  RURAL 
GROWTH 

THE  tendency  of  the  population  to  move  to 
the  city  is  indicated  by  the  comparisons 
shown  in  the  accompanying  graph.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  today  the  majority  of  the  people 
in  the  United  States  live  in  cities  of  2,500 
population  and  over. 

A  new  social  and  economic  order  has  come  to 
pass  within  a  century.  The  population  and 
interest  of  the  country  prior  to  the  nineteenth 
century  were  almost  entirely  rural.  It  was  in 
the  home  that  most  of  the  trades  were  carried 
on.  Then  the  centralization  of  industries  had 


not  begun,  and  factories  were  unknown.  Today, 
however,  with  the  organization  of  labor  unions, 
the  establishment  of  great  industries,  the  need 
for  centralized  labor  and  transportation  points, 
cities  have  become  a  necessity  of  our  social 
order.  A  stream  of  people  has  literally  poured 
into  these  new  centers  of  population,  so  that  a 
century  has  witnessed  almost  a  reversal  of  the 
proportion  of  people  living  in  the  rural  and 
urban  sections  of  our  country.  Only  3  per  cent, 
of  our  population  was  urban  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Today  almost 
half  of  our  population  is  urban  and  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  within  a  generation  the  greater 
portion  of  it  will  actually  become  so.  Thus  the 
influence  of  the  city  grows.  In  a  number  of 
the  states  the  major  portion  of  the  population 
already  resides  in  the  cities,  and  where  this  is 
the  case  the  city  determines  the  policy  of  the 
state,  and  gives  to  the  commonwealth  its  own 
character. 


THE  outcome  of  home  missions  in  America 
in  the  next  twenty-five  years  will  deter¬ 
mine  the  destiny  of  American  Protestantism, 
and  the  nation  itself. — O.  G.  Dale. 


Cities  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


18 


GROWTH  OF  CITIES  OF 
8,000  AND  OVER 

THE  following  table  shows  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  places  of  8,000  inhabitants  and 
more  in  the  United  States: 


Census 

Year 

No.  of 
Places 

Population 

Total 

Population 
U.  S. 

Per  Cent. 
Total 

Population 

1910 

778 

35,726,720 

91,972,266 

38.8 

1900 

566 

25,142,978 

75,994,575 

33.1 

1890 

449 

18,327,987 

62,247,714 

29.1 

1880 

291 

11,450,894 

50,155,783 

22.8 

1870 

226 

8,071,875 

38,558,371 

20.9 

1860 

141 

5,072,256 

31,443,321 

16.1 

1850 

85 

2,897,586 

23,191,876 

12.6 

1840 

44 

1,453,994 

17,069,453 

8.5 

1830 

26 

864,509 

12,856,020 

6.7 

1820 

13 

475,135 

9,638,453 

4.9 

1810 

11 

366,920 

7,239,881 

4.9 

1800 

6 

210,873 

5,308,483 

4.0 

1790 

6 

131,472 

3,929,214 

3.3 

The  figures  given  furnish,  almost  at  a  glance,  a 
significant  story  of  the  tremendously  rapid 
development  of  American  urban  population. 
One  is  able  also  to  see  that  while  the  number  of 
cities  housing  eight  thousand  inhabitants  and 
more  did  not  increase  during  the  decade  be¬ 
tween  1790  and  1800,  the  next  ten  years  saw 
this  number  practically  doubled. 

From  1830,  onward,  this  rate  of  increase  was 
steadily  maintained,  giving  in  a  period  of  only 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  a  total  increase 
of  772  cities  of  this  class  with  a  population  of 
35,595,248.  Most  significant,  however,  is  the 
fact  that  the  rate  of  growth  of  our  cities  has 
greatly  exceeded  the  rate  of  growth  of  our  total 
population  with  the  consequence  that  the  cities 
have  claimed  a  rapidly  increasing  proportion  of 
our  population.  Seventy  years  ago  scarcely 
10  per  cent,  of  our  population  was  urban. 
Today  over  40  per  cent,  is  urban.  This  re¬ 
markable  urban  growth  still  continues,  and 
shows  no  signs  of  abatement. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


19 


CLASSES  OF  CITIES  ACCORDING  TO  POPULATION 

THE  following  table  indicates  the  population  in  the  several  classes  of  communities,  showing 
the  number  of  places  in  each  group  of  cities  and  their  total  population  for  1910: 


Class  of  Places 

No.  of  Places 

Population 

Total  population  of  the  U.  S . 

91,972,266 

Urban  territory . 

2,402 

42,623,383 

Places  of  1,000,000  or  more  inhabitants . 

3 

8,501,174 

Places  of  500,000  to  1,000,000  inhabitants . 

5 

3,010,667 

Places  of  250,000  to  500,000  inhabitants . 

11 

3,948,839 

Places  of  100,000  to  250,000  inhabitants . 

31 

4,840,458 

Places  of  50,000  to  100,000  inhabitants . 

59 

4,178,915 

Places  of  25,000  to  50,000  inhabitants . 

120 

4,062,763 

Places  of  10,000  to  25,000  inhabitants . 

372 

5,609,208 

Places  of  5,000  to  10,000  inhabitants . 

629 

4,364,703 

Places  of  2,500  to  5,000  inhabitants . 

1,172 

4,105,656 

Rural  territory . 

49,348,883 

Incorporated  places  of  less  than  2,500  inhabitants . 

11,784 

8,118,826 

Other  rural  territory  . 

41,230,058 

TWENTY-FIVE 
METROPOLITAN  DISTRICTS 

THERE  are  twenty-five  metropolitan  dis¬ 
tricts  in  the  United  States  whose  centers 
are  cities  containing  200,000  or  more  inhabi¬ 
tants,  and  whose  area  includes  land  approxi¬ 
mately  within  10  miles  of  the  city  limits. 

Within  these  urban  areas  are  the  wealth  and 
the  poverty  of  the  nation.  Here  are  her  ideals 
but  also  her  centers  of  crime  and  social  dis¬ 
order.  At  no  point  in  the  national  life  do 
right  and  wrong  come  into  sharper  conflict. 

These  twenty-four  metropolitan  areas  give  rise 
to  the  great  “city  problems”  of  the  United 
States.  They  are  as  follows:  New  York; 
Chicago;  Philadelphia;  Boston;  Pittsburgh;  St. 
Louis;  San  Francisco — Oakland;  Baltimore; 
Cleveland;  Cincinnati;  Minneapolis — St.  Paul; 
Detroit;  Buffalo;  Los  Angeles;  Milwaukee; 
Providence;  Washington;  New  Orleans;  Kan¬ 
sas  City  (Missouri  and  Kansas);  Louisville; 
Rochester;  Seattle;  Indianapolis;  Denver. 

In  some  cases  these  metropolitan  districts  in¬ 
clude  other  cities  of  considerable  size.  For 
example,  in  the  New  York  metropolitan  district 
are  included  Newark  and  Jersey  City,  both  in 
New  Jersey,  and  each  of  those  has  more  than 
200,000  inhabitants. 

Thousands  of  the  people  making  their  homes  in 


these  cities  earn  their  livelihood  in  the  city  of 
New  York.  Ferry  and  railroad  facilities  make 
means  of  transit  easy;  so  that  both  these  large 
centers  of  population  are,  in  effect,  part  of  the 
greater  city.  To  all  intents  and  purposes  these 
outlying  areas  have  no  separate  or  individual  life. 


25  METROPOLITAN  DISTRICTS 

COMPARED  WITH  THE  UNITED 
STATES  IN  AREA  AND  POPULATION 

THESE  DISTRICTS  INCLUDE  CITIES  OF  200,000 
OR  MORE,  INCLUDING  TERRITORY  LYING 
WITHIN  TEN  MILES  OF  CITY  LIMITS 

COMPARISON  OF  AREAS 


□ 

METROPOLITAN 
DISTRICTS 
4,717,532  ACRES 


TOTAL  LAND  SURFACE 
UNITED  STATES 
1,900,947,200  ACRES 


COMPARISON  OF  POPULATIONS 


□ 


METROPOLITAN  TOTAL  POPULATION 

DISTRICTS  UNITED  STATES 

22,088,331  91.972,266 

ONE  FOURTH  OF  THE  POPULATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
LIVES  ON  OF  THE  TOTAL  LAND  AREA 

interchurch  World  Movement  oT  North  America. GD 175 


20 


Cities  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


REASONS  FOR  THE  CITIES’ 

GROWTH 


RAILWAY  mileage  in  the  United  States  increased  from  23  miles  in  1830 
to  254,733  miles  in  1910.  The  railroads  drain  the  entire  country  of  every- 
^  thing:  food,  raw  materials  for  clothing  and  homes,  all  forms  of  manufactur¬ 
ing  enterprises,  and  men  and  women  with  which  to  make  the  finished  products  and 
carry  on  the  commercial  aspects  of  the  city’s  business.  Some  of  these  the  railroad 
gives  back  to  the  country,  but  the  men  and  women  remain  in  the  city. 

A  second  reason  for  the  growth  of  the  city  is  to  be  found  in  the  invention  of 
machinery.  The  day  of  the  hand  worker  is  gone  forever.  Machinery  does  every¬ 
thing — almost.  Its  introduction  has  revolutionized  life  for  everyone,  including  the 
farmer.  Machinery  produced  the  factory  with  its  specialization.  The  factory  made 
a  center  of  population  and  attracted  related  and  other  industries. 

The  man  whose  labor  was  formerly  required  on  the  farm  now  finds  steadier  work 
in  the  city.  It  is  much  easier  to  become  a  specialist  in  the  city  and  earn  high  wages 
because  most  of  the  work  done  in  city  factories  is  done  by  machinery.  Hence  the 
strong  pull  on  the  man  to  come  to  the  city  to  learn  quickly  and  to  earn  more  at 
a  steadier  job  than  he  ever  had  before. 

Whenever  a  factory  is  placed  in  a  small  town  or  in  the  open  country  it  almost  im¬ 
mediately  introduces  the  elements  of  city  life. 

not  for  the  excess  number  of  deaths  due  to 
industrial  occupations  and  accidents  it  is  prob¬ 
able  that  the  death-rate  in  the  modern  city 
would  be  lower  than  it  is  in  the  country. 

SUPERIOR  SOCIAL  ADVANTAGES 

THE  city  offers  certain  distinct  advantages, 
as  compared  with  the  country,  to  those 
who  desire  superior  educational  opportunities; 
in  the  professions;  in  art;  in  music;  in  voca¬ 
tional  training  and  even  in  the  elementary 
courses.  The  city  also  provides  the  largest 
opportunity  to  use  this  education  after  it  has 
been  acquired. 

In  some  respects  standards  of  living  are  higher 
in  the  city.  There  are  more  comforts,  more 
luxuries,  more  leisure,  greater  variety  in  foods. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  COMMERCE 

IT  IS  probably  true  that  more  men  from  the 
country  engage  in  mercantile  and  general 
commercial  enterprises  in  the  city  than  enter 
shops  and  factories.  The  increase  of  commerce 
in  cities  has  been  enormous,  offering  attractive 
opportunities  to  young  men  from  the  country. 

IMPROVED  SANITATION 

IN  THE  Middle  Ages  and  the  earlier  centu¬ 
ries  of  modern  times  the  cities  of  Europe 
depended  almost  entirely  upon  the  influx  of 
country  people  for  their  growth.  The  mortality 
was  so  high  that  the  deaths  annually  equaled 
or  exceeded  the  number  of  births. 

Today  the  death-rate  in  the  larger  cities  is 
often  as  low  as  it  is  in  the  country.  Were  it 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


PROBLEMS  OF  THE  CITY 

OVERCROWDING  is  one  of  the  worst  evils  of  our  American  cities.  We 
have  permitted  land  speculators  to  build  our  cities  for  us, — men  who  are 
interested  in  their  own  gain  and  nothing  else.  They  have  found  that  it 
pays  to  put  up  tenements  and  charge  enormous  rents  for  them,  while  nobody  has 
been  particularly  interested  in  furnishing  adequate  transportation  facilities. 

The  result  is  the  slum.  Men,  women  and  children  are  crowded  into  the  closest 
quarters  possible,  creating  and  maintaining  breeding  places  of  immorality  and  disease. 

There  are  229  cities  which  had  in  1910  more  than  25,000  inhabitants  with  an  aggregate 
population  of  28,453,816  31  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  While  these  principal 
cities  have  only  about  one-third  of  the  population  of  the  United  States,  they  contain 
more  than  one-half  of  the  foreign-born  population. 

The  constant  percentage  of  foreign-born  people  in  the  United  States  during  the  past 
fifty  years  has  been  just  about  14.  In  1860  it  was  13.2  per  cent,  of  the  whole;  in  1870, 
14.4  per  cent.;  in  1880,  13.3  per  cent.;  in  1890,  14.8  per  cent.;  in  1900,  13.7  per  cent, 
and  in  1910,  14.7  per  cent. 


GO  £55 


The  heavy  lines  (« 


»)  show  geographic  divisions 


Inter  church  World  Movement  oh  North  America 


CONGESTION  MAP  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
POPULATION  PER  SQUARE  MILE,  BY  STATES:  191 


I  WTO 


ARIZ 


POPULATION  PER  SQUARE  MILE 
|  less  than  2  18  to  45 

rmru  2  «  gga  45 «,  90 

6  to  18  90  and  over 


Cities  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


22 

The  immigrant  is  peculiarly  a  problem  of  the  city,  principally  because  of  his  congestion 
in  the  city. 

The  real  problem  of  the  church  and  labor  today  is  not  the  poorly  paid,  overworked 
laborer.  It  is  the  high-grade,  well-paid  artisan.  The  number  of  these  is  rapidly 
increasing,  especially  in  the  city. 


PERCENTAGE  OF  ALL 
NATIVE  WHITES 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
LIVING  IN  CITIES  OF 
25,000  AND  OVER 


PERCENTAGE  OF  ALL 
FOREIGN-BORN  WHITES 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
LIVING  IN  CITIES  OF 
25,000  AND  OVER 


hterchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


G.oise 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


23 


A  study  of  one  thousand  workingmen  of  all  kinds  revealed  the  fact  that  the  church 
is  much  less  attractive  to  them  than  is  any  other  “social”  institution.  In  a  vote 
taken  among  these  workingmen  expressing  their  preferences,  out  of  sixteen  different 
agencies  found  in  the  average  city — labor  unions,  lodges,  libraries,  art  galleries, 
movies,  forums  and  the  like,  the  church  received  the  lowest  vote. 

These  workingmen  are  not  particularly  hostile  to  the  church;  they  are  simply  indiffer¬ 
ent.  They  apparently  have  found  in  something  else  that  which  seems  to  satisfy  their 
desires  for  social  and  moral  development. 

It  must  not  be  assumed  that  these  workingmen  who  are  not  in  the  church  are  any 
more  immoral  than  the  average.  Furthermore  the  movements  with  which  they  are 
identified  have  a  strong  moral  spirit  and  atmosphere,  furnishing  an  outlet  for  the 

very  highest  hopes  and  aspiration  of  those  who  have  qualities  for  leadership. 

• 

And  yet  we  must  not  ignore  the  growth  of  radicalism  among  vast  numbers  even  of 
the  more  intelligent  workers.  Indeed  it  is  among  the  better  types  of  workers  that 
radicalism  has  its  freest  course. 

It  is  in  the  city  that  the  agitator  of  social  unrest  has  his  strongest  hold.  Opportunity 
for  propaganda  is  open  on  every  side.  Street  meetings,  labor  union  gatherings  and 
social  occasions  afford  opportunity  for  the  spreading  of  the  message  of  discontent 
which,  however  justified  it  may  be  under  certain  circumstances,  is  often  used  to 
foment  strife  and  hatred. 


A  TRANSIENT  POPULATION 

N  1910  there  were  20,255,555  families  in  the 
United  States,  9,499,765  of  which  were  in 
the  cities,  and  10,755,790  of  which  lived  in  rural 
districts.  In  the  cities  there  were  5.9  persons  to 
a  dwelling,  and  in  the  country  4.7;  but  in  New 
York  (Borough  of  Manhattan)  there  was  an 
average  of  30.9  persons  per  dwelling.  The 
number  of  persons  per  dwelling  in  1890  was 
19.9  but  1910  showed  an  increase  of  over  fifty 
per  cent. 

As  the  number  of  persons  to  a  family  is  about 
the  same  in  the  country  as  in  the  city,  4.5  for 
the  city  and  4.6  for  the  country,  the  figures 
indicate  among  other  things  that  many  city 
homes  have  boarders  and  servants. 

Of  all  the  families  in  the  United  States  in  1910, 
54.2  per  cent,  occupied  rented  homes  and  45.8 
per  cent,  occupied  owned  homes;  62.8  per  cent, 
of  those  living  in  farm  houses  owned  them  and 


37.2  per  cent,  rented,  while  of  those  living  in 
other  homes  38.4  per  cent,  owned  and  61.6  per 
cent,  rented. 

In  New  York  City  88.3  per  cent,  of  all  the 
homes  were  rented,  but  in  the  Borough  of 
Manhattan  very  nearly  all  the  homes,  97.1  per 
cent.,  were  rented.  There  are  five  cities  in 
which  the  rented  homes  constituted  more  than 
four-fifths  of  all  the  homes  in  1910:  New  York, 
Boston,  Fall  River,  Cambridge  and  Newark, 
and  the  percentage  was  nearly  as  large  in  Jersey 
City  and  Providence. 

Home  life  in  the  city  is  exceedingly  difficult  to 
maintain. 

In  1910  there  were  in  the  United  States  341,277 
divorced  persons,  0.5  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population.  In  1887,  there  were  27,919  divorces 
granted  in  this  country  and  72,062  in  1906;  an 
increase  of  61  per  cent.,  while  the  population 
increased  only  30  per  cent.  We  have  a  larger 


24 


Cities :  HOME  MISSIONS 


percentage  of  divorced  persons  in  this  country 
than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Japan. 

The  number  of  married  people  in  the  country 
in  1910  was  nearly  half  a  million  more  than 
in  the  city;  but  there  were  37,384  or  about  20 
per  cent,  more  divorced  people  in  the  city  than 
in  the  country.  In  the  country  .97  per  cent,  of 
the  married  people  were  divorced;  in  the  city 
1.25  per  cent,  were  divorced. 

Another  scene  in  the  panorama  of  city  life  is 
the  constant  moving  of  city  people  from  apart¬ 
ment  to  apartment.  The  average  church  in  the 
city  witnesses  a  “procession”  of  such  people. 
Entirely  new  congregations  must  be  gotten 
together  every  few  years.  “Family  churches” 
are  a  rarity  in  the  city.  One  pastor  reports 
over  3,000  changes  in  membership  in  a  thirteen- 
year  pastorate. 

THE  NEGRO  IN  INDUSTRY 

SINCE  the  last  census  was  taken,  in  1910,  the 
tendency  of  the  Negro  to  move  to  the  city 
has  been  greatly  increased  largely  because  he 
has  been  encouraged  to  move  from  the  South 
and  enter  industrial  life  in  the  cities  in  the 
North.  This  was  because  during  the  war  large 


NEGROES  IN  THE  CITIES.  1910 


Negroes  constitute 
10.7%  of  entire  population 
of  the  United  States 


25%  in 

27  leading  cities 


Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


16.5%  in  cities  of 
25.000  and  over 


51%  in 

4  southern  cities 


G.Dl  157 


numbers  of  immigrants  returned  to  their  native 
lands  and  the  Negro  was  persuaded  to  take 
their  places  in  shops  and  factories  in  the 
larger  cities. 

The  entrance  of  the  Negro  into  industrial  life 
in  the  city  has  resulted  in  serious  race  riots 
which  at  one  time  threatened  to  sweep  the 
entire  country. 

A  VIRILE  POPULATION 

THE  ages  of  the  people  living  in  the  city 
are  a  direct  challenge  to  the  church. 

The  accompanying  graph  indicates  the  actual 
number  and  percentages  of  people  of  various 
ages  who  in  1910  lived  in  urban  and  rural 

communities. 

• 

In  the  United  States  as  a  whole  there  were 
many  more  persons  in  each  of  the  age  groups 
comprising  persons  under  20  years  of  age  in  the 
rural  communities  than  in  the  cities.  But  in 
each  of  the  age  groups  comprising  persons  from 
20  to  54  years  of  age — the  most  active  period 
of  life — there  were  more  persons  in  the  city  than 
in  the  country. 

Rural  communities  contained  more  persons  in 
advanced  middle  age  and  old  age.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  53.7  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  United  States  lives  in  the 
country  and  46.3  per  cent,  lives  in  the  city. 
This  means  that  the  city  is  markedly  strong  in 
people  of  active,  productive  ages  and  has  rela¬ 
tively  fewer  children  and  aged  people. 

For  this  reason  city  life  is  more  animated; 
there  is  more  enterprise;  more  radicalism;  more 
vice  and  crime;  more  impulsiveness  generally. 
And  these  are  the  elements  which  at  once  make 
the  city  a  force  for  good  and  for  evil.  The 
problem  is  how  these  elements  are  to  be 
directed. 

A  LARGER  PROPORTION 
OF  WOMEN 

CITIES  contain  a  larger  proportion  of 
women  than  does  the  rest  of  the  country. 
Wherever  there  exists  a  considerable  pre¬ 
dominance  of  one  sex  over  the  other  in  point  of 
numbers  there  is  less  prospect  of  a  well-ordered 
social  life. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


25 


In  1910  throughout  the  entire  country  there 
were  106  males  to  every  100  females;  the  males 
outnumbering  the  females  by  2,692,288.  In 
twenty-two  of  the  fifty  principal  cities  in  this 
country  the  females  outnumbered  the  males. 
The  native  whites  of  native  parentage  showed 
an  excess  of  females  in  thirty-three  of  the  fifty 
principal  cities.  The  excess  of  women  is  really 
among  the  city-born  rather  than  among  the 
newcomers.  Not  only  are  relatively  fewer  boys 
than  girls  born  in  the  city  as  compared  with  the 
country  but  more  male  children  die  in  cities 
during  the  early  months  of  life. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  women  are 
longer  lived  than  men  because  men  are  more 
generally  exposed  to  industrial  accidents  and 
occupational  diseases. 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  women  are  more 
“religious”  than  men  largely  because  there  are 
more  women  in  the  churches  and  because  there 
are  more  men  in  the  penitentiaries.  This  has 
been  explained  by  the  fact  that  men  are  more 
virile  and  more  robust  than  women,  the  as¬ 
sumption  being  that  God  penalizes  men  be¬ 
cause  they  are  robust  and  virile.  The  fact  is 
that  God  expects  men  to  express  their  religion 
in  a  robust  and  virile  fashion. 

More  women  than  men  are  in  the  churches 
because  thus  far  the  church  has  given  woman 
practically  her  only  opportunity  to  express 
her  social  instincts.  With  the  development  of 
women’s  movements,  social,  philanthropic  and 
political,  it  may  yet  develop  that  the  men 
inside  the  church  will  be  as  much  disturbed 
about  the  women  who  are  outside  the  church  as 
the  women  are  today  disturbed  about  the  men. 
City  women  will  undoubtedly  soon  become  a 
serious  problem  for  the  churches. 

ILLNESS  AND  DEATH  RATES 

HE  death-rates  in  cities  as  a  whole  are 
not  greater  than  in  rural  fields;  but  it 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  among  the  indus¬ 
trial  workers  the  death-rate  is  abnormal. 

The  death-rate  among  workingmen  between  the 
ages  of  25  and  45  is  50  per  cent,  higher  than  it 
is  among  males  of  the  same  age  in  other  occu¬ 
pations.  Among  the  babies  in  the  tenements 
it  is  pathetically  high. 


There  are  30,000,000  wage-earners  in  this  coun¬ 
try.  Most  of  them  live  in  the  cities.  These 
lose  annually  an  average  of  nine  days  each  on 
account  of  illness.  The  wages  lost  amount  to 
$500,000,000;  the  medical  treatment,  medicines 
and  other  material  required  during  illness  cost 
$500,000,000  more;  making  a  total  of  $1,000,- 
000,000  lost  annually  by  wage-earners  on  ac¬ 
count  of  sickness.  This  is  about  twice  the 
total  amount  given  annually  in  normal  times 
towards  all  philanthropic  purposes  in  the 
United  States,  and  was  the  amount  required  to 
run  the  federal  government  during  the  year 
before  the  world  war. 

Sickness  is  the  disabling  cause  in  more  than 
one-half  the  cases  assisted  by  organized  chari¬ 
ties.  Among  immigrants  it  is  the  apparent 
cause  of  poverty  in  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  the 
cases  relieved. 

The  industrial  workers  in  this  country  pay  a 
terrible  penalty  to  achieve  our  commercial  and 
industrial  prosperity.  It  is  conservatively 
estimated  that  at  least  30,000  working  people 
are  killed  annually  in  industry;  and  300,000  are 
seriously  injured;  while  there  are  said  to  be 
2,000,000  industrial  accidents  of  all  kinds.  Such 
a  loss  must  be  brought  to  an  end. 


26 


Cities :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Most  sickness  and  accidents  may  be  avoided. 
Contrary  to  the  common  impression,  there  is 
no  iron  law  of  mortality. 

It  is  not  the  city  air  so  much  as  the  peculiarity 
of  city  occupations  that  causes  the  higher  urban 
mortality. 

THE  CITY’S  POOR 

AMONG  the  things  which  weigh  down  the 
XV  hearts  and  shorten  the  lives  of  vast  multi¬ 
tudes  in  our  cities  are  such  as  these:  the  filthy 
slum;  the  dark  tenement;  the  unsanitary  fac¬ 
tory;  the  long  hours  of  toil;  the  lack  of  a  living 
wage;  the  back-breaking  labor;  the  inability  to 
pay  necessary  doctors’  bills  in  times  of  sickness; 
a  pessimistic  outlook  upon  the  future;  the  poor 
and  insufficient  food;  the  lack  of  leisure;  and 
the  swift  approach  of  old  age. 

Many  have  almost  forgotten  how  to  smile. 
To  laugh  is  a  lost  art.  The  look  of  care  has 
come  so  often  and  for  so  long  a  period  at  a  time 
that  it  is  now  forever  stamped  upon  their  faces. 
The  lines  are  deep  and  hard.  Many  have  gone 
through  life  more  like  animals  of  a  lower  order 
than  as  immortal  souls. 

No  hell  can  be  worse  to  them  than  the  hell  in 
which  they  are  now.  They  fear  death  less  than 
they  do  sleep.  Some  indeed  long  for  the  sum¬ 
mons,  daring  not  to  take  their  own  lives. 

What  does  it  matter  to  such  whether  the  doors 
of  the  church  are  closed  or  open.  What  attrac¬ 
tion  has  the  flowery  sermon  or  the  polished 
oration.  What  meaning  have  the  fatherhood 
of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  to  such 


PERCENTAGE  OF  DIVORCED  PEOPLE 

IN  COUNTRY  AND  CITY 

Percentage  of  divorced  people  in  city 

Percentage  of  divorced. people  in  country 

0.9  7% 

1.25% 

Intorchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America. 

CD.  159 

starved  souls.  Where  is  God?  they  ask;  and 
what  cares  man?  they  say.  Meeting  the  needs 
of  these  will  test  the  church  severely  in  the 
coming  days. 

CHILDREN  OF  THE 
TENEMENTS 

HAT  nature  starts  all  her  children,  rich 
and  poor,  physically  equal  is,  broadly 
speaking,  the  opinion  of  many  leading  physi¬ 
cians.  But  what  happens  to  the  tenement  child 
after  its  birth  is  quite  another  story. 

Vital  statistics  abundantly  prove  that  the  bur¬ 
den  and  the  penalty  of  poverty  and  its  accom¬ 
panying  evils  fall  most  heavily  upon  the  child. 
Death’s  scythe  sweeps  relentlessly  through  the 
ranks  of  little  children.  Hunger  and  disease 
hush  a  thousand  babies’  voices. 

Scan  carefully  the  faces  of  the  little  slum  chil¬ 
dren — set,  stolid  faces,  old  beyond  their  years. 
Hold  they  the  promise  of  any  future  good? 
Sometimes  by  sheer  strength  of  character  there 
emerge  from  among  these  little  ones  those  who 
seem  unaffected  by  their  former  surroundings 
and  occupations.  But  in  most  cases  even  these 
carry  in  their  bodies  and  in  their  minds  the 
marks  of  those  earlier  years  and  are  handi¬ 
capped  forever.  The  pathetic  thing  about  the 
whole  situation  is  that  there  comes  no  realiza¬ 
tion  of  that  which  is  missing.  Life  has  lost  its 
largest  and  fullest  meaning. 

Crime  is  play  to  hosts  of  city  children  because 
for  many  years  play  was  counted  a  crime  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  city  ordinances.  Crime  is  in¬ 
creasing  in  this  country  and  juvenile  crime  is 
increasing  more  rapidly  than  adult  crime, 
especially  in  the  city.  This  does  not  mean  that 
children  are  actually  becoming  more  lawless  in 
spirit  or  more  immoral  by  nature.  It  means 
simply  that  in  our  great  cities  we  have  been 
adding  to  the  list  of  crimes  or  misdemeanors 
acts  which  in  the  open  country  or  small  town 
are  altogether  legitimate. 

Baseball,  bonfires,  shouting,  snowballing,  throw¬ 
ing  stones — these  are  usually  permitted  in  the 
country;  but  most  children  who  are  arrested  in 
the  city  are  guilty  of  “crime”  for  doing  these 
or  somewhat  similar  acts.  The  consciousness 
that  they  are  doing  wrong  when  playing  base- 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


27 


ball  soon  makes  them  indifferent  to  the  crime  of 
stealing  apples  from  the  fruit  seller’s  stand. 

Probably  90  per  cent,  of  the  children  in  our 
cities  must  use  the  streets  for  their  playground 
and  usually  street  play  is  unorganized  and 
therefore  usually  unsupervised.  This  is  always 
dangerous.  Indiscriminate  play  with  “the 
gang”  in  the  street,  and  occasional  association 
with  those  who  are  schooled  in  crime,  lay  faulty 
foundations  for  character  building.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  some  of  them  develop  into  pick¬ 
pockets,  thugs  and  gunmen? 

GENERAL  MORAL 

CONDITIONS 

HE  city  is  getting  better  morally.  It  was 
never  better  than  it  is  today.  Proof  of  this 
is  to  be  found  in  the  report  of  the  “Missionary 
Society  for  the  Poor  of  New  York  and  Vicinity” 
issued  in  1817,  a  little  over  one  hundred  years 
ago. 

There  were  in  the  city  at  that  time  small  houses 
crowded  with  from  four  to  twelve  families 
each;  often  two  or  three  families  in  a  room;  and 
of  “all  colors.”  Out  of  a  population  of  100,000 
there  were  1,489  licensed  retail  liquor  dealers. 
Not  less  than  six  thousand  “abandoned  fe¬ 
males”  added  to  the  vice  and  shame.  Men  who 
throve  on  this  dishonor  kept  large  numbers  of 
them  practically  slaves.  In  the  seventh  ward, 
poor  and  beggared  beyond  description,  there 
were  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  saloons. 
Dance  halls  and  dives  with  “The  Way  to  Hell” 
inscribed  in  glaring  capitals  were  displayed, 
twenty  in  the  space  of  thirty  or  forty  rods. 
Sunday  had  become  to  the  people  in  this  part  of 
the  city  a  day  of  idleness  and  drunkenness. 
Thousands  passed  on  Sunday  over  the  ferry  at 
Corlear’s  Hook  to  Long  Island — the  “Coney 
Island”  of  that  day.  Ignorance  and  wretched¬ 
ness  of  the  worst  sort  were  common. 

In  this  description  the  following  evils  are 
pointed  out:  overcrowding;  the  liquor  business; 
prostitution;  low  dance  halls;  Sabbath  desecra¬ 
tion  and  slum  conditions.  In  every  one  of  these 
respects  the  modern  city  has  improved. 

The  immorality  of  the  city  is  now  more  subtle; 
more  refined.  The  chief  sin  of  the  city’s  popula¬ 
tion  is  not  open  wickedness,  but  indifference 


to  moral  and  religious  influences.  It  is  selfish¬ 
ness  which  manifests  itself  in  greed  for  gain  in 
commerce  and  industry.  It  is  lack  of  social 
responsibility  which  results  in  political  corrup¬ 
tion.  This  in  turn  means  bad  social  and  eco¬ 
nomic  conditions  in  so  far  as  the  city’s  adminis¬ 
tration  is  responsible  for  social  and  economic 
advance. 

And  it  is  in  these  fields  that  the  church  can  and 
must  operate,  for  this  situation  may  be  traced 
directly  to  lack  of  character  and  a  keen  sense 
of  social  and  religious  responsibility. 

The  cities  of  America  have  serious  moral  prob¬ 
lems  to  face  which  must  have  the  strict  atten¬ 
tion  of  city  officials  and  laymen.  But  the 
church  must  deal  primarily  with  the  great 
moral  principles  involved,  applying  them  cour¬ 
ageously  to  the  moral  issues  whenever  they 
arise. 

RELIGIOUS  LIFE  AND  WORK 

THE  greatest  weakness  of  the  average  city 
church  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  con¬ 
ducted  upon  an  elaborated  country  church 
program. 


PERCENTAGE  OF  ALL  POPULATION 
OF  VARIOUS  AGES 

IN  URBAN  AND  RURAL  COMMUNITIES 

under  *>10  14  IS  to  ?4  ?5  m  44  45  to  64  65  years 


/  / 

*  \ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/  / 

/  / 

/  / 

'  / 

\  \ 

\  \ 

\  \ 

V  \ 

/ 

/ 

/  / 
/  / 

X 

/ 

\\ 

\\ 

V 

r  / 

t  / 

\ 

\ 

A 

\\ 

\\ 

— 

URBAN 

RURAL 

Infer  church  World  Movement  of  North  America _ G  D  160 


28 


Cities :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Its  membership  and  its  ministry  came  mostly 
from  the  country;  they  think  in  the  terms  of  the 
country.  Their  minds — so  far  as  religious  work 
is  concerned— are  of  the  “rural  type.”  They 
may  be  alert  to  the  needs  of  business  and  in¬ 
dustrial  life  in  the  city  but  the  social  and 
religious  needs  of  the  community  are  thought 
of  in  the  terms  of  the  needs  of  the  people 
“back  home.” 

It  has  been  extremely  difficult  for  the  church  to 
amalgamate  the  various  types  of  people  in  the 
city.  The  immigrant,  the  workingman,  the 
“rural  emigrant,”  the  financially  comfortable, 
and  many  other  groups  that  are  found  in  the 
city  have  formed  class  churches,  each  attracting 
its  own  kind.  The  result  is  that  in  the  average 
large  city  there  are  at  least  half  a  dozen  dif¬ 
ferent  types  of  churches. 

UNREACHED  PEOPLE 

HE  approach  to  the  foreigner  has  been 
weak.  We  have  practically  confessed  by 
our  actions  that  the  gospel  which  is  “the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  to  everyone”  is  effective 
for  the  foreigner  only  when  it  is  exported 
through  a  foreign  missionary  society;  and  that 
it  is  non-effective  in  a  Christian  civilization,  for 
when  the  foreigners  move  into  a  community 
the  churches  usually  move  out. 

There  are  many  normal,  genuine  people  of  the 
city  who  are  not  reached  by  the  churches.  It 
is  becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  win  them. 

It  has  come  to  be  an  accepted  fact  that  work¬ 
ingmen  and  many  other  groups  will  not  go  to 
church  because  they  are  not  “spiritually- 
minded.”  We  have  misinterpreted  the  mani¬ 
festations  of  “spirituality.”  We  have  forgotten 
that  Bazaleel  who  built  the  ark  of  the  covenant 
was  a  skilful  carpenter,  that  Samson  who  was  a 
magnificent  fighter;  and  that  Peter  who  was  a 
wonderful  preacher,  were  all  baptized  with  the 
same  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  All  received  their 
power  from  Him,  but  each  manifested  that 
power  in  his  own  way.  The  result  is  we  have 
failed  to  enlist  thousands  of  city  men  and 
women  who,  living  their  religion  in  their  day- 
by-day  occupations,  are  not  given  credit  for 
spirituality  because  they  have  never  learned 
to  use  the  vocabulary  acquir  ed  by  most  church 
members  in  meetings  held  in  rural  fields. 


HAS  THE  CHURCH  A  MESSAGE? 

HE  inactivity  and  silence  of  the  church 
in  the  great  industrial  struggle  now  raging 
is  not  because  the  church  is  controlled  by  the 
capitalists  but  because  the  church  has  inherited 
the  conservatism  of  the  rural  class.  It  is  also 
due  to  the  supposition  that  the  church  must 
remain  “neutral”  on  these  burning  questions. 

Often  it  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  church  does 
not  understand  them. 

The  average  church  has  been  weak  in  the  city 
because  it  has  been  afraid  to  break  away  from 
traditions.  It  is  afraid  to  venture  into  new 
fields  and  to  do  its  work  in  a  different  way. 

It  has  become  conformed  to  a  “type”  and  it  has 
failed  to  follow  the  laws  of  adaptation  which 
alone  can  keep  it  alive. 

NEEDY  FIELDS 

UCCESS  is  usually  determined  by  the  num¬ 
bers  added  to  the  church  on  confession 
of  faith.  No  account  is  taken  of  the  influence 
of  the  church  upon  the  entire  community  life, 
the  fruits  of  which  are  not  seen  for  many  years, 
frequently  being  found  in  other  neighborhoods 
to  which  church  members  have  moved  and 
where  they  have  cast  in  their  life  with  the  local 
church. 

Hence  in  nearly  every  great  American  city 
there  are  deserted  but  needy  fields;  churches 
being  maintained  upon  an  inverse  ratio  as  the 
population  and  needs  increase. 

BROADER  PROGRAM 

NLESS  city  churches  continue  to  be 
“fountains  of  benevolence”  for  other 
fields,  it  is  difficult  to  justify  their  maintenance. 
Those  in  authority  should  have  the  broadest 
view  of  the  type  of  work  which  should  be  carried 
on  in  all  types  of  city  churches. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  church  has  not  had  a 
sufficiently  challenging  program.  In  a  study 
made  in  sixty-nine  cities  the  ministers  assem¬ 
bled  in  small  conferences  were  asked  to  respond 
quickly  to  the  question  as  to  what  was  the 
supremely  challenging  task  or  ideal  which  they 
as  local  ministers  could  offer  to  men  outside 
the  church.  Not  one  could  give  an  immediate 
answer  and  very  few  could  give  any  answer. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


29 


FORCES  AT  WORK 


THE  constructive  forces  at  work  in  the  city  are  innumerable.  Many  of  the 
agencies  conducted  for  the  social  and  the  moral  welfare  of  the  people  are 
justified  upon  the  assumption  that  the  program  and  the  work  of  the  church 
are  inadequate. 

They  profess  either  to  be  “substitutes”  for  the  church,  acknowledging  the  need  of 
the  religious  spirit  which  the  church  is  presumed  to  inculcate  but  insisting  that  they 
can  propagate  this  spirit  better  than  the  church,  thus  becoming  rivals  of  the  church; 
or  else  they  declare  that  “religion”  is  not  at  all  necessary;  that  sociological  principles 
properly  applied  can  meet  all  the  needs  of  city  life. 

The  point  of  contact  with  the  peoples  and  problems  discussed  in  this  statement 
with  which  we  are  most  concerned  is  the  local  church,  through  which  church  federa¬ 
tions,  denominational  boards,  and  city  missionary  societies  must  function. 

The  handicaps  of  the  church  in  the  city  are  many,  due  in  part  to  its  methods. 

It  usually  depends  upon  a  pulpit  ministry  instead  of  a  parish  ministry  with  responsi¬ 
bility.  The  preacher  who  can  fill  the  pews  and  pay  the  bills  has  been  viewed  as  a 
successful  pastor  and  his  church  as  a  successful  church.  The  result  has  been  that 
churches  have  striven  for  these  two  ends  and  have  failed  primarily  to  serve  the 
community. 

The  short  duration  of  city  pastorates  renders  impossible  a  constructive  program  of 
religious  activities.  The  city  of  God  cannot  be  built  in  a  day.  The  complex  and 
intricate  environment  or  relations  of  each  parish  cannot  be  understood  and  mastered 
in  the  average  periods  of  city  pastorates,  to  say  nothing  of  forming  a  constructive 
program.  Among  a  permanent  population  an  itinerant  minister  may  be  acceptable 
but  among  a  shifting  population  a  permanent  minister  is  necessary  to  stabilize  the 
institutions  of  the  church  and  to  maintain  a  progressive  work. 

The  city  church  is  handicapped  by  lack  of  funds;  sometimes  by  debt.  The  city 
church  cannot  make  the  needed  adaptations  because  it  is  controlled  by  a  class  and  in 
the  interests  of  a  class.  Hence  the  ministry  to  aliens  or  to  groups  other  than  those 
represented  in  the  families  of  the  church  is  discouraged  and  rendered  almost  impos¬ 
sible.  The  control  of  property  is  such  that  even  the  help  of  city  societies,  denomina¬ 
tional  boards  or  outside  agencies  becomes  useless  so  long  as  the  trustees  of  the  local 
church  are  unsympathetic  to  a  larger  program. 


Cities  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


30 


DESPITE  these  handicaps  the  local  church 
is  a  potential  force.  There  is  no  handicap 
that  an  intelligent  understanding  of  the  problem 
will  not  remove.  Already  local  churches  are 
making  adaptations  for  a  larger  ministry. 
Seven-day- week  programs  are  being  started. 
Thorough-going  modifications  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation  has  been  undertaken  and  large  institu¬ 
tions  with  adequate  staffs  are  being  set  up  to 
serve  the  community. 

CHURCH  EXTENSIONS  AND 
CITY  MISSION  SOCIETIES 

ENOMINATIONAL  church  extension 
and  city  mission  societies  administer 
funds  collected  in  or  about  the  city  and  such 
funds  as  may  be  given  to  them  by  the  general 
home  mission  boards.  They  have  initiated 
work  among  the  aliens  and  supported  foreign¬ 
speaking  workers.  They  have  taken  over 
abandoned  properties;  converted  them  into 
different  types  of  institutional  churches  and 
have  been  most  helpful  in  encouraging  adapta¬ 
tions  to  city  conditions. 

HOME  MISSION  BOARDS 

HE  work  and  policies  of  the  denomina¬ 
tional  home  missionary  boards  have  not 
always  been  characterized  by  breadth  of  out¬ 
look  so  far  as  the  city  is  concerned.  Like  the 
church  itself  they  have  their  traditions.  Al¬ 
though  the  vast  missionary  populations  of  the 
country  are  now  in  the  cities  it  is  probably  true 
that  the  home  missionary  boards  of  the  greater 
denominations  are  still  spending  the  bulk  of 
their  funds  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Only  a  few 
boards  have  special  city  departments. 

The  average  board  views  the  problem  of  the 
city  from  the  denominational  angle.  The 
result  is  that  its  efforts  have  been  frequently 
competitive  rather  than  cooperative.  Much 
home  missionary  money  has  gone  to  bolster  up 


the  traditional  rural  program  of  the  church  in 
the  city  rather  than  to  initiate  and  encourage 
work  adapted  to  city  conditions. 

FEDERATIONS  OF 
CHURCHES 

CITY  federations  of  churches  through 
comity  committees  have  been  striving  to 
eliminate  overlapping  and  wasteful  competition 
among  the  religious  forces  of  the  city.  Some 
excellent  results  have  been  recorded  where 
these  organizations  have  had  the  support  and 
the  backing  of  the  churches.  They  have  helped 
to  smooth  out  the  misunderstandings  and  con¬ 
flicts  between  churches  and  denominations  and 
are  coming  rapidly  to  a  place  of  great  usefulness 
in  helping  to  solve  the  city  problem.  Their 
influence  with  city  missionary  societies  and 
denominational  boards  is  resulting  in  a  whole¬ 
some  distribution  of  missionary  funds  and  a 
systematic  development  of  the  missionary 
problems  of  the  city. 

INTERDENOMINATIONAL 

AGENCIES 

NTERCHURCH  cooperation  is  in  its  in¬ 
fancy,  but  it  is  an  idea  that  has  not  firmly 
established  itself  in  the  practise  of  the  Protes¬ 
tant  churches.  Most  encouraging  beginnings 
have  been  made  and  some  permanent  and 
abiding  forms  of  cooperation  have  resulted. 
These  will  each  make  helpful  contributions. 

City,  county  and  state  Sunday  school  associa¬ 
tions  are  most  effective  agencies  in  doing  inter¬ 
church  work  in  the  field  of  religious  education. 
Christian  Endeavor  and  other  young  people’s 
societies  also  have  organizations  and  are  an 
active  expression  of  interchurch  work.  The 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  and  the 
Young  Women’s  Christian  Association  and 
Bible  societies  are  other  forms  of  cooperative 
agency  for  the  city. 


THE  PROBLEMS  of  the  city  is  the  problem  of  the  new  civilization. 

The  city  paganized  means  civilization  paganized.  The  city  evangel¬ 
ized  means  civilization  evangelized. — Strong. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


31 


POLICIES  AND  PROGRAMS 


THE  rapid  growth  of  city  populations  and  their  consequent  problems  make 
the  city  a  mission  field  of  a  magnitude  hitherto  unknown.  Thus  far  the 
church’s  approach  to  this  field  has  been  haphazard  and  spasmodic.  There 
has  not  yet  been  evolved  a  science  of  city  missions. 

Certain  of  the  great  problems  of  the  city  can  be  met  only  when  the  Protestant  churches 
in  the  city  combine  in  a  common  program,  unselfishly  working  for  the  glory  of  God 
and  the  lifting  up  of  humanity. 

Rescue  missions,  social  centers,  evangelistic  enterprises,  some  forms  of  work  among 
immigrant  populations,  certain  approaches  to  workingmen,  open  forums,  the  dis¬ 
semination  of  literature,  and  many  similar  methods  of  work  may  be  carried  on  most 
effectively  by  the  united  Protestant  forces  of  the  city. 

Given  a  coordination  of  all  these  forces,  a  cooperating  group  of  trained  workers 
under  competent  leadership,  wise  strategy  and  an  adequate  budget,  and  almost  any 
problem  in  the  city  may  be  solved  by  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  have  been  saying  a  great  deal  about  the  problem  of  “the  downtown  church.” 
We  should  have  been  talking  more  about  “the  downtown  problem  of  the  church.” 

The  immediate  and  ultimate  success  of  the  downtown  church  depends  on  a  continuous 
evangelistic  message  and  appeal  to  the  passing  throngs  and  a  pulpit  leadership  of 
clear  and  prophetic  thinking  on  the  current  questions  of  social,  economic  and  political 
interest— the  religious  and  spiritual  implications  of  which  are  too  often  ignored.  We 
must  spiritualize  the  social  order,  and  the  preacher  of  the  gospel  who  stands  at  the 
center  of  teeming  commercial  and  civil  life  is  in  a  position  of  unique  responsibility. 

The  downtown  church  should  have  a  modern,  up-to-date  building  and  equipment 
to  meet  the  discovered  needs  of  its  varied  ministry.  This  equipment  will  be  adapted 
broadly  to  a  program  of  social,  recreational  and  evangelistic  work.  Only  after  careful 
local  survey  of  the  community  and  advice  from  competent  specialists  should  the  large 
sums  necessary  be  expended  to  erect  and  equip  the  plant.  The  old  and  outworn 
ecclesiastical  structure  of  a  generation  ago  will  not  suffice. 

The  church  which  is  battling  at  strategic  points  in  our  American  cities  should  have  the 
support  and  sympathetic  interest  of  the  whole  church.  Nor  should  the  conquest  of 
the  city  be  left  entirely  to  the  churches  in  the  city.  The  city  is  a  national  problem. 
“As  goes  the  city,  so  goes  the  nation.” 


32 


Cities :  HOME  MISSIONS 


THE  INDUSTRIAL 
COMMUNITY 

THE  policy  of  setting  up  demonstration 
centers  in  industrial  communities — with 
adequate  leadership,  equipment  and  budget, 
for  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  to  the  church  at 
large  by  free  experiment  the  practicability  of 
an  efficient  Christian  program  in  such  com¬ 
munities  is  heartily  commended.  The  exten¬ 
sion  of  this  policy  is  urged  upon  all. 

The  promotion  of  conferences  with  employers, 
employees  and  representatives  of  the  public  to 
promote  mutual  understanding  and  cooperation 
upon  a  Christian  basis  is  commended. 

At  this  time  of  world  unrest  the  churches  in 
local  communities  should  be  encouraged  to  open 
their  doors  for  the  free  discussion  of  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  our  common  life  in  which  moral  issues 
are  involved.  Opportunity  should  be  given  for 
all  voices  to  be  heard  in  the  controversy. 

Work  in  these  sections  of  the  city  must  of 
necessity  be  conducted  at  high  pressure. 
Every  feature  introduced  must  be  as  high-grade 
as  possible.  The  best  preacher  obtainable 
should  be  secured  for  such  fields — one  who 
understands  the  daily  life  of  the  people,  knows 
the  forces  which  oppose  the  church  and  is  able 
to  enlist  every  legitimate  means  for  securing  the 
interest  of  the  community. 

An  attempt  should  be  made  to  coordinate  all 
the  forces  in  the  community  which  are  working 
for  righteousness,  the  church  furnishing  the 
inspiration  and  leadership  for  community  tasks. 

FOREIGN-SPEAKING  AREAS 

THE  churches  have  an  unusual  opportunity 
to  assist  in  the  general  movement  for  a 
more  complete  Americanization  of  our  country. 
While  the  entire  program  of  the  church  makes 
for  Americanization  nevertheless  certain  ele¬ 
ments,  such  as  the  study  of  citizenship  and  the 
use  of  English  should  be  emphasized. 

Though  experience  has  shown  the  value  of 
various  modes  of  approach  to  foreign-speaking 
peoples — by  colporter,  woman  worker  or  so- 
called  mission,  nevertheless,  because  of  the  many 
instances  of  failure  due  to  the  unseemly  appear¬ 
ance  of  buildings,  inadequate  equipment,  nar¬ 


row  and  limited  programs  and  untrained 
workers,  it  is  recommended  that  in  every  new 
approach  to  a  foreign-speaking  group,  whether 
racially  solid  or  polyglot,  there  be  formulated 
at  the  outset  a  strong  program  of  worship, 
religious  education  and  social  ministry  with 
proper  building,  equipment  and  specially  trained 
leaders  and  staff  workers.  The  program  shall 
be  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  situation  and 
of  a  character  to  command  attention  and  re¬ 
spect. 

In  cases  where  English-speaking  churches  are 
being  surrounded  by  foreign-speaking  peoples 
these  churches  are  urged  to  adapt  their  ministry 
to  the  changing  conditions  by  a  social  and  edu¬ 
cational  program  and  a  democratic  depart¬ 
mental  organization. 

GREAT  POPULAR  CENTERS 

N  every  city  there  are  one  or  more  centers 
to  which  everybody  comes.  Here  crowds 
seek  pleasure  or  relaxation;  young  people 
throng;  restless  and  discontented  people  mingle; 
heartsickness  and  sinsickness  prevail. 

A  great  popular  religious  enterprise  should  be 
conducted  by  the  churches  in  every  such  center 
with  a  master  of  organization  in  charge.  This 
project  should  equal  in  attractiveness  any 
popular  resort  in  the  district,  and  be  conducted 
upon  the  most  liberal  basis  possible  but  with  a 
tremendously  strong  spiritual  atmosphere  and 
motive  dominating  the  entire  enterprise. 

It  should  not  become  an  institutional  church  in 
the  sense  that  numerous  organizations  will  be 
developed  but  rather  an  intensive  inspirational 
institution. 

A  SOCIAL  MINISTRY 

HEN  the  home  fails  to  function  then 
the  church  must  step  in  and  take  the 
place  of  the  home  in  its  ministry  to  the  social 
life  of  the  people. 

The  socialized  and  institutional  church  is  justi¬ 
fied  for  this  reason.  It  must  not  become  a 
substitute  for  the  home.  It  should  build  up 
the  home.  There  are  neighborhoods  in  which 
so-called  institutional  churches  are  the  means 
of  untold  blessing,  especially  to  young  people. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Cities 


33 


Such  enterprises  should  be  well  organized  and  be 
conducted  by  specially  trained  workers  if  the 
best  results  are  to  be  obtained. 

In  the  cheap  lodging  house  districts  and  in 
decadent  business  and  residential  neighbor¬ 
hoods  in  every  large  city  are  to  be  found  men, 
women  and  children  who  are  the  victims  of 
drink,  vice,  crime  and  poverty. 

Many  are  subnormal  in  mentality;  many  are 
nervous  wrecks  who  have  gone  down  under  the 
industrial  and  social  strain  of  the  city  life; 
many  have  never  had  a  fair  chance  and  many 
have  wasted  brilliant  talents  and  fine  oppor¬ 
tunities.  Especially  pitiable  are  the  children 
of  these  districts. 

Usually  from  these  neighborhoods  the  churches 
have  removed  to  more  favored  communities. 
Often  the  churches  which  remain  maintain  a 
type  of  service  and  standard  of  worship  which 
do  not  attract  these  unfortunate  denizens  of 
the  city  streets. 

One  of  the  best  known  organizations  which  has 
arisen  to  challenge  these  desperate  conditions 
is  the  rescue  mission.  There  is  an  urgent 
necessity  for  a  closer  identification  of  the  rescue 
work  with  organized  church  life. 

The  church  is  now  assuming  responsibilities 
which  she  has  too  often  in  the  past  delegated  to 
other  bodies.  The  time  has  come  when  the 
church  of  Christ  itself  should  assume  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  rescue  mission  in  order  to  secure 
permanency,  competency,  financial  support  and 
a  satisfactory  conservation  of  results. 

The  relation  of  the  rescue  mission  to  the  whole 
problem  of  vagrancy  and  the  inter-relation  of 
its  city  program  to  work  among  migrant  groups 
outside  the  city  are  of  utmost  importance. 

A  PROGRAM  AND 
A  METHOD 

0  MEET  adequately  the  situation  in  the 
city  there  should  be  set  up  at  least  the 
minimum  program  indicated  below,  with  ample 
provision  for  a  trained  leadership  in  city  work. 

A  continuous  survey  should  be  maintained, 
scientifically  noting  the  changes  and  movements 
in  the  various  groups  of  the  population;  in  busi¬ 
ness  and  manufacturing;  in  city  improvements 


and  deterioration — observing  all  the  factors 
which  have  a  direct  influence  upon  human  life. 
The  church  would  not  then  be  caught  napping 
when  its  service  is  suddenly  needed  and  when 
future  church  buildings  and  social  and  educa¬ 
tional  enterprises  must  be  located  and  put  into 
operation. 

A  continuous  adaptation  is  called  for  in  plans, 
policies  and  practises  of  local  churches,  city 
mission  societies,  church  federations  and  home 
mission  boards  in  anticipating  the  religious  and 
social  needs  of  communities  and  of  the  city  as 
a  whole.  Programs  must  be  based  upon  per¬ 
manent  records  and  special  surveys. 

A  continuous  campaign  of  publicity  must  be 
inaugurated,  using  daily  newspapers,  motion 
pictures,  posters,  the  mails  and  any  other 
method  likely  to  be  effective  in  presenting  the 
great  facts  about  Christianity  and  the  church. 
By  these  means  a  favorable  attitude  toward 
religion  may  be  created  among  all  classes  of 
men  and  women,  making  the  approach  of  the 
church  and  all  Christian  institutions  easier  and 
more  generally  effective. 

ABOVE  ALL— LEADERSHIP 

T  MUST  be  obvious  that  more  important 
than  any  other  factor  in  meeting  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  city  is  that  of  competent  leadership. 
It  should  be  a  “city-minded”  leadership — one 
which  is  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  the  city; 
and  that  can  understand  and  interpret  it,  and 
is  alert  to  every  symptom  of  city  life. 

It  should  be  a  leadership  trained  in  the  city; 
in  constant  touch  with  city  life  and  institutions 
while  being  prepared  for  the  direction  of  city 
churches  and  institutions. 

It  should  be  a  specialized  leadership.  No  one 
man  can  possibly  know  every  phase  of  city  life 
and  work  in  this  day  of  high  specialization. 

It  should  be  a  supervised  leadership,  having  as 
directors  men  of  the  qualifications  of  statesmen 
and  strategists. 

It  must  be  a  leadership  by  both  sexes.  Women 
are  unusually  well  qualified  for  work  in  the  city 
because  the  problems  dealt  with  concern  home 
life  and  because  of  the  large  numbers  of  young 
women  employed  in  the  city. 


. 


METROPOLITAN  NEW  YORK 


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-  >*  Vxx  -v 

•  V 


V  .  .  ■?-  -  i  K_ 


.-3=.  ^-  -V-  .* 


METROPOLITAN  NEW  YORK 

A  CIRCLE  with  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  from  Times  Square,  two-fifths  of 
which  area  is  harbor,  sound  and  sea,  encloses  one-eleventh  of  the  life  of 
the  United  States. 

New  York  is  the  greatest  of  all  magnets.  Every  year  Wall  Street,  Fifth  Avenue, 
the  Great  White  Way,  Coney  Island  and  the  universities,  attract  thirty-five  million 
strangers  with  money  to  spend  and  minds  to  be  impressed.  New  York  invariably 
stamps  its  image  upon  these  visitors. 

Since  the  World  War  started  New  York  has  captured  leadership  in  finance,  music 
and  fashions.  It  is  also  fast  becoming  the  gigantic  Good  Samaritan  for  all  the  needy 
peoples  of  the  world. 

New  York  is  the  great  cosmopolite.  Fill  St.  Louis  with  Russians;  San  Francisco  with 
Italians;  Milwaukee  with  Austro-Hungarians;  Philadelphia  with  Jews;  group  them 
together  in  the  New  York  metropolitan  area  and  the  sum  will  represent  only  two- 
thirds  of  the  foreign-speaking  peoples  and  their  children  who  live  in  the  foreign 
quarters  and  congested  sections  of  New  York. 

New  York  outranks  any  other  city  in  the  world  in  its  Negro  population. 

The  New  York  metropolitan  area  constitutes  the  most  appealing  possible  challenge 
to  organized  religion.  Failure  of  the  church  here  would  be  an  international  disaster. 
Success  here  will  mean  religion  enlightening  the  world.  It  is  a  staggering  responsi¬ 
bility  and  an  opportunity  so  vast  that  no  single  denomination  can  venture  to  meet 
it  alone. 

This  opportunity  invites  a  supreme  devotion  of  thought,  time,  money,  service  and 
sacrifice. 

It  calls  for  a  cooperative  effort  of  all  church  groups  sharing  common  ideals  of  Christian 
service  and  citizenship. 

In  this  perilous  day  of  fundamental  reorganization  the  church  must  forget  herself  and 
seek  only  to  serve. 

By  wise  and  heroic  action  she  must  grapple  with  the  most  difficult  problems  of 
human  relationship  in  the  spirit  of  an  open-minded,  justice-loving,  truth-seeking, 
cooperative  lover  of  mankind. 


3g  Metropolitan  New  York :  HOME  MISSIONS 

The  church  can  save  and  develop  the  life  of  American  democracy  as  it  concentrates 
its  best  upon  the  human  factor  in  government  and  industry. 

Acting  with  the  irresistible  impetus  of  a  great  spiritual  ideal,  the  church  can  keep 
old-world  anarchy  from  drawing  its  bloody  trail  first  through  crowded  New  York 
and  then  throughout  America;  not  by  processes  of  force,  but  by  showing  to  all 
oppressors,  oppressed,  agitators  and  reactionaries  alike  the  better  way  of  Christ. 


First,  the  church  must  define  and  agree  upon  its  ideal  for  the  metropolitan  area 
cooperation.  Second,  all  facts  must  be  known  and  studied — survey.  Third,  the  suc¬ 
cessive  steps  must  be  fixed — program.  Fourth,  each  step  essential  to  this  carefully 
planned  program  must  be  taken  in  the  right  order  strategy. 


Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


STATUTE  MILES 

02  4  6  a  n 


GD.I34 


AS  USED  IN  THE  SURVEY  OF  THE 

INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT 


NEW  YORK 

METROPOLITAN  DISTRICT 


ax  Tell 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Metropolitan  New  York 


39 


WHICH  WILL  CONQUER? 

N  THE  metropolitan  area  there  are  163 
incorporated  cities,  towns  and  villages  with 
407  additional  post-office  centers.  ^ 

The  total  population  is  about  nine  millions, 
with  33  nationalities  represented. 

The  total  wealth  is  estimated  at  fifty  billions 
of  dollars. 

There  are  fifteen  hundred  schools,  with  approxi¬ 
mately  1,200,000  children  of  school  age. 

There  are  less  than  2,000  Protestant  churches. 

In  the  two  central  boroughs  of  the  metropolitan 
area,  only  40  per  cent,  of  the  churches  are 
either  entirely  self-supporting  or  have  endow¬ 
ments  of  their  own.  All  the  others  receive 
financial  aid  from  national,  state  and  city 
denominational  societies  and  funds. 

WIN  THE  CHILD 

THE  record  of  the  last  fifteen  years  of  the 
New  York  churches  and  Sunday  schools 
belonging  to  three  leading  denominations  indi¬ 
cates  an  increase  in  church  membership  of 


CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
MEMBERSHIP  1904-1918 
FOR  THREE  DENOMINATIONS 


_ 

... 

/ 

v 

_ 

v 

/ 

\ 

/ 

N 

00  - - - - - - - - it - - - - - - 

1904  ’05  '06  ’07  ’08  ’09  ’10  ’ll  ’12  ’13  ’14  ’15  ’16  ’17  ’18 

_ CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP 

. ..SUNDAY  SCHOOL  MEMBERSHIP 


Interchurch  Ubr/d  Mwemenl  d  north  America_ GO.  209 


twenty-three  and  eight-tenths  per  cent.,  but  a 
decrease  in  Sunday  school  membership  of 
seventeen  and  nine-tenths  per  cent. 

New  York  contains  more  children  under  twenty 
years  for  every  one  thousand  people  than  any 
city  in  the  world;  and  more  than  half  of  them 
have  no  systematic  religious  education. 

What  danger  this  spells  for  future  ethics  in 
business  and  professional  circles;  what  it  means 
in  regard  to  social  selfishness  and  governmental 
corruption  is  beyond  the  power  of  any  man  to 
foretell. 


The  church  must  win,  train  and  safeguard  the 
child  or  the  church  will  die  and  the  state  will 
crumble.  The  child  is  the  life  of  both. 

COMPETE  OR  COOPERATE? 

HE  church  is  the  mother  of  hospitals, 
nursing,  charities,  visiting,  child  care,  social 
settlements  and  other  philanthropic  and  hu¬ 
manitarian  movements. 

The  boards  of  directors  of  the  largest  social 
service  agencies  are  constituted  almost  entirely 
of  church  members. 

The  church  must  not  compete  with  her  chil¬ 
dren.  It  must  work  through  them  and  co¬ 
operate  with  them. 

Social  work  and  social  agencies  of  all  kinds  need 
and  welcome  the  counsel,  financial  support 
and  volunteer  aid  of  the  church. 


HIS  map  shows  a  typical  crowding  of 
churches  in  one  district  in  the  metropolitan 
area.  There  are  13  churches,  representing  8 
denominations.  The  old  residential  American 
population  of  this  neighborhood  has  almost 
disappeared.  Because  of  the  loyalty  of  some 
older  members  to  their  church  homes  the  in¬ 
creasing  cost  of  maintenance  and  repair  is 
borne  by  a  decreasing  few. 

The  problem  of  this  section  is  the  amalgamation 
of  the  churches  of  the  same  denomination,  or 
the  specialization  of  church  functions. 

Six  struggling  churches  could  so  rearrange  them¬ 
selves  as  to  form  two  strong  organizations. 


t 


■ 


* 


- 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Metropolitan  New  York 


41 


Times  Square 


HERE  are  100  city  blocks  from  28th  to  48th  Streets  and  from  Park  Avenue 


to  8th  Avenue.  The  human,  though  not  the  geographical  center,  of  its  life 


is  Times  Square.  A  dozen  years  ago  this  section  was  comparatively  a 


village  where  today  it  is  the  heart  of  a  throbbing  metropolitan  section. 

In  this  section  there  are  90  hotels  with  accommodations  for  26,824  a  day.  At  least 
30,000  new  arrivals  register  every  week  at  these  hotels.  Allowing  for  changes  in  the 
semi-transient  population  of  the  17  clubs,  and  the  493  rooming  and  boarding  houses, 
there  is  a  transient  population  of  approximately  123,000  within  a  month. 

Thus,  a  million  and  a  half  different  people  dwell  temporarily  in  this  section  of  New 
York  in  a  year's  time. 

The  more  or  less  permanent  population  in  this  area  numbers  5,464  families. 

The  45  theatres  and  10  motion-picture  houses  found  here  have  a  seating  capacity 
of  over  78,000,  with  an  approximate  attendance  each  week  of  one  million  men, 
women  and  children  who,  for  the  time  being,  are  trying  to  forget  their  cares  and 
duties  and  are  at  play. 

As  a  center  of  social  expression  its  like  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere  in  America,  nor 
indeed  in  the  world. 

To  serve  this  constituency  there  are  two  Jewish  synagogues,  four  Roman  Catholic 
churches,  and  thirteen  Protestant  churches,  two  of  which  are  for  Negroes. 

The  total  active  membership  of  all  these  churches  is  not  over  16,500,  which  is  a  little 
more  than  their  seating  capacity. 

On  a  given  Sunday  evening  only  1,817  people,  by  actual  count,  were  found  within 
the  Protestant  churches. 

In  the  playhouses  of  the  section,  where  so-called  sacred  concerts  are  given,  standing 
room  was  at  a  premium. 

This  region  is  also  a  center  for  the  New  Thought  propaganda  in  the  United  States. 

The  Protestant  churches  make  their  main  appeal  for  Sunday  attendance  and 
for  one  added  week-day  evening. 

The  motion-picture  houses  are  open  for  28  exhibitions  a  week,  while  the  theatres  give 
nine  performances,  including  the  Sunday  concert. 


42 


Metropolitan  New  York :  HOME  MISSIONS 


THE  TIMES  SQUARE  PROGRAM 

0  THE  full  measure  of  their  ability  and 
equipment  the  churches  of  this  area  and 
those  on  its  immediate  edge  have  courageously 
faced  the  huge  problems  in  the  Times  Square 
district. 

The  demands  of  these  churches  for  needed  ad¬ 
ditional  equipment  and  staff  are  imperative. 

The  exceptional  needs  of  a  most  exceptional 
population  call  for  a  greatly  enlarged  program 
to  be  operated  under  such  auspices  as  the 
churches  may  decide,  somewhat  after  this 
general  plan: 

A  PULPIT  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
CENTER 

THIS  pulpit  would  offer  a  seven-day-a-week 
opportunity  for  evangelism  and  for  the 
public  discussion  of  social  and  moral  questions. 
It  would  be  a  metropolitan  platform  for  the 
greatest  religious  thinkers  and  church  leaders. 

As  an  educational  center  it  would  inform  the 
public  regarding  the  Christian  life  and  the 
church  and  would  attract  the  uninterested  or 
prejudiced  to  the  study  and  practice  of  Chris¬ 
tianity.  Specialists  would  explain  the  best 
methods  of  religious  education  for  home  and 
school,  and  the  best  religious  literature,  art  and 
music. 

A  CHURCH  HOME  CENTER 

ECOGNIZING  that  loneliness  leads  di¬ 
rectly  to  evil  and  debauchery,  the  churches 
face  an  unparalleled  opportunity  for  developing 
a  great  church  home-center  in  the  Times  Square 
region.  This  center  would  be  a  church  home  or 
club  for  travelers,  visitors,  transients  and  semi¬ 
transients.  It  would  contain  an  information 
office  with  expert  service  of  every  kind  such  as 
travel,  sightseeing,  shopping,  legal  aid,  medical 
aid,  employment  and  vocational  advice,  a  read¬ 
ing  room,  a  rest  room,  a  tea  room,  a  conversa¬ 


tion  room  and  every  other  device  which  would 
make  the  stranger  feel  at  home. 

A  RECREATIONAL  CENTER 

HE  hours  of  play,  when  a  million  men, 
women  and  children  every  week  crowd  the 
places  of  amusement,  are  definitely  character¬ 
forming.  This  center  would  include  an  audi¬ 
torium  for  illustrated  lectures  and  moving- 
pictures.  It  would  also  give  the  church  people 
of  the  metropolitan  area  an  opportunity  to 
express  themselves  in  religious  pageants  and 
educational  dramatics.  Under  right  auspices 
and  supervision  it  would  offer  such  recreation 
as  would  create  new  standards  and  bring  the 
church  into  a  real  position  of  leadership  in  the 
hours  devoted  by  the  people  to  play. 

SURVEY  TO  SERVE 

WENTY  blocks  in  Perth  Amboy,  New 
Jersey,  indicate  the  data  given  to  every 
church  and  pastor  after  the  mapping  and  tabu¬ 
lation  of  the  survey. 

Accurate  lists  of  the  names  of  the  people,  their 
addresses,  church  membership  or  preference, 
birth-place,  language  of  mother,  length  of  resi¬ 
dence  in  the  United  States,  occupation,  trade 
union  membership,  war  service,  and  whether 
officers  of  the  church,  are  furnished. 

With  these  facts  at  hand,  pastoral  visitation  is 
simplified.  With  people  named  and  located  the 
pastor’s  efficiency  is  greatly  multiplied. 

The  survey  also  gives  the  pastor  an  opportunity 
to  mobilize  his  entire  congregation  for  com¬ 
munity-service.  This  service  usually  stimu¬ 
lates  spiritual  life  and  greatly  quickens  the 
entire  church. 

An  adequate  basis  for  an  enlarged  program  is 
presented  in  which  added  leadership  and  equip¬ 
ment  are  budgeted,  and  which  by  its  definite¬ 
ness  appeals  at  once  to  the  business  and  spiritual 
interests  of  the  church. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Metropolitan  New  York 


43 


A  Metropolitan  Program 

THE  religious  forces  in  America  must  recognize  the  metropolitan  area  as  a 
mission  field.  The  late  James  W.  Bashford  said:  “New  York  is  the  greatest 
mission  field  in  the  world.” 

A  continual  and  comprehensive  study  of  the  established  agencies  of  the  church  must 
be  made  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  the  points  which  need  to  be  strengthened  to 
the  utmost  in  preaching,  public  worship,  pastoral  supervision  and  religious  education. 

Centers  of  weakness  and  diminishing  strength  will  be  studied  for  the  purpose  of  devel¬ 
oping  a  new,  modified  or  improved  program  for  utilizing  the  valuable  properties 
now  owned  by  the  churches,  but  many  of  which  will  never  probably  be  turned  to 
commercial  uses. 

In  the  development  of  such  a  modern  and  timely  program  strong  emphasis  must  be 
placed  upon  the  fundamental  character  of  the  ministry  of  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ 

in  the  social,  moral  and  intellectual  life  of  the  community. 

Strong,  well-staffed,  well-financed  religious  centers  allocated  to  the  different  denomi¬ 
nations  should  be  located  in  the  most  strategic  sections  of  the  area.  These  may 
be  either  good-will  centers  for  the  crowded  districts,  Christian  social  settlements, 
forum  or  health  centers,  or  a  combination  of  all. 

The  Times  Square  plan  and  similar  programs  not  so  elaborate  should  be  developed 
for  other  transient  or  recreational  centers,  as  for  instance  Jersey  City,  Paterson, 
Newark,  Brooklyn  and  Yonkers. 

An  evangelistic  program  should  be  inaugurated  with  men  and  women  of  the  highest 
character  and  ability  giving  their  entire  time  to  speaking  for  Christ  both  in  the 
churches  and  other  available  places,  such  as  labor  halls,  forum  halls,  theatres  and  clubs. 

A  great  outdoor  evangelistic  program  in  the  summer  ought  likewise  be  organized. 
It  would  include  public  preaching,  illustrated  lectures  and  moving  pictures. 

A  new  religious  literature  specially  designed  for  the  metropolitan  mind  must  be  pre¬ 
pared  both  in  English  and  foreign  languages,  and  its  adequate  distribution  assured. 

Goodwill  industries  ought  to  be  founded  in  at  leased  five  centers.  The  purpose  would 
be  to  utilize  waste  material  which,  when  repaired  and  sold,  gives  employment  to  those 
handicapped  physically  and  morally,  and  does  so  under  Christian  influences  which 
help  them  regain  their  standing  as  useful  members  of  society. 


44 


Metropolitan  New  York :  HOME  MISSIONS 


THE  CHALLENGE! 

CAMPAIGN  of  religious  publicity  not 
only  advertising  church  services  but  the 
message  of  the  gospel  itself,  should  be  vigorously 
prosecuted. 

Christian  forces  must  set  up  a  carefully  articu¬ 
lated  program  providing  facilities  for  public 


worship,  religious  education,  community  ser¬ 
vice  and  Christian  fellowship  for  the  Negro 
populations  of  this  area. 

A  coordinated  and  well-staffed  organization  for 
religious  work  among  the  students  gathered 
from  every  state  and  nation  in  what  is  now  the 
greatest  student  center  in  the  world  must  be 
provided. 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 

IN  NO  other  metropolitan  center  in  America 
is  the  proportion  of  rented  houses  and  con¬ 
sequent  transient  population  so  great.  The 

home  which  many  remember  as  the  corner¬ 
stone  of  our  American  democracy  is  rapidly 
passing  away.  There  is  a  possible  three-fold 
service  for  the  church  on  this  problem:  (1)  An 
effort  to  get  a  multitude  of  people  back  into 
Christian  homes  where  their  children  could  be 
brought  up  under  the  influences  of  the  family 
altar;  (2)  The  provision  of  dormitory  or  other 
home  facilities  for  America’s  young  people  who 
come  by  multiplied  thousands  to  the  metro¬ 
politan  area.  Either  by  utilizing  some  of  their 
idle  properties  or  by  purchasing  new  ones,  the 
churches  could  do  an  enormous  piece  of  con¬ 
structive,  conservative  work  for  our  future 
American  leaders;  (3)  An  attempt  through  as¬ 
sociations  of  rooming  and  boarding-house 
keepers  to  improve  the  standards  of  existing 
facilities  in  order  to  make  the  area  more  attrac¬ 
tive  as  well  as  the  safest  place  in  America  for 
young  men  and  young  women. 

Cooperation  should  be  sought  with  existing 
educational  agencies  for  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  a  national  training-school  for 
religious  workers  other  than  those  for  the  regu¬ 
lar  ministry.  The  opportunities  in  New  York 
for  both  study  and  practise  for  those  who  are 
to  be  directors  of  community  work,  religious 
education,  social  and  recreational  work  are 
unparalleled. 


rT^HE  CHALLENGE  of 
the  city  will  only  be  met 
when  the  church  spares  no 
resources. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Metropolitan  New  York 


45 


General  Headquarters 

AN  OUTSTANDING  need  is  a  church  headquarters  building  for  adequately 
/  \  housing  the  seventy-five  or  more  international,  national,  metropolitan 
1  m  and  civic  religious  agencies  now  inadequately  located  in  almost  as  many 
different  offices  in  widely  scattered  buildings. 

It  has  long  been  a  dream  of  the  leaders  of  many  of  these  agencies  that  an  adequate 
and  well-equipped  headquarters  building  might  be  established  which,  in  addition 
to  the  ordinary  office  facilities,  would  provide  conference  and  committee  rooms; 
restaurant,  hospital,  first-aid,  rest-room  and  other  social  facilities  for  the  hundreds 
of  employees;  a  reference  library  of  Christian  literature;  joint  transportation,  pur¬ 
chasing  and  shipping  service;  map,  chart  and  lantern  slide  departments. 

Such  a  building  would  not  only  make  it  easier  but  far  more  economical  for  these 
organizations  to  do  their  particular  and  common  tasks. 

Sign! 

WHY  not  sign  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  of  the  church  for  its 
larger  life  and  inspiring  task  in  New  York?  This  is  not  the  time  for 
timorous  doubting  souls  or  chronic  objectors. 

The  call  has  sounded.  The  advance  has  begun.  Through  the  church  of  Christ  and  by 
the  personal  sacrifice  and  personal  service  of  each  member  this  area  must  at  any  cost 
be  won  for  God. 

For  all  God’s  fellow-workers  it  is  a  high  and  holy  venture  of  faith. 


- 


TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 


THE  rural  territory  which  serves  as  the  basis  for  this  section  includes  all 
the  open  country  and  communities  of  under  5,000  population.  Within  this 
territory  there  are  not  less  than  54,000,000  people— or  half  the  population 
of  the  United  States. 

A  survey  of  town  and  country  conditions  would  include  a  study  of  the  field,  the 
problems  and  the  forces  and  a  statement  of  the  program  proposed. 

A  possible  classification  of  the  rural  field  is  as  follows:  (a)  the  more  favored  agricul¬ 
tural  sections;  (b)  the  less  favored  agricultural  sections;  (c)  the  frontier;  (d)  the 
rural  industrial  communities;  (e)  the  mountain  section. 

The  better  agricultural  sections  include  the  corn  belt,  extending  through  Nebraska, 
Indiana  and  Ohio;  the  wheat-producing  sections,  including  Kansas,  the  Dakotas, 
Minnesota  and  parts  of  other  states;  the  irrigated  sections,  representing  about 
75,000,000  acres  of  possible  development;  the  drainage  areas,  with  about 
20,000,000  acres,  and  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  United  States,  known  as 
the  cotton  belt. 

The  increase  in  the  country  development  has  been  around  the  cities,  owing  to  the 
development  of  suburban  transportation;  in  the  mining  population  of  southwestern 
Pennsylvania;  in  the  mountains  of  West  Virginia  and  Kentucky  where  large  families 
are  still  the  rule;  along  the  southern  coastal  plain;  northern  Michigan  and  Minnesota 
and  throughout  most  of  the  western  half  of  the  country  especially  in  Oklahoma, 
California  and  Washington,  in  which  regions  the  increase  was  due  to  agricultural 
development;  and  in  the  oil  fields  of  Kansas,  Oklahoma  and  Texas. 

The  decreases  in  rural  population  have  occurred  for  the  most  part  in  the  corn  and 
somewhat  in  the  wheat  producing  sections.  Here  prosperous  farming  communities 
have  found  it  advantageous  to  consolidate  smaller  farms  into  larger  ones  in  order  to 
secure  the  full  benefit  of  the  cooperative  use  of  machinery  and  of  large  scale  produc¬ 
tion.  Eight  of  the  fourteen  states  showing  decreases  are  Iowa,  Missouri,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Ohio,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Kansas. 

In  the  corn-raising  communities  the  farms  are  fairly  large,  tending  to  become  larger. 
There  is  considerable  neighborhood  cooperation  and  a  large  amount  of  social  life. 
To  a  large  degree  the  people  are  progressive  and  intelligent. 


50 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


In  the  wheat-producing  sections  expansive  cultivation  predominates.  Homes  are 
necessarily  widely  separated  and  there  is  consequently  social  isolation.  The  intelli¬ 
gence  is  generally  high  and  the  people  are  fairly  prosperous. 

In  the  cotton-raising  sections  there  are  either  large  farms  or  plantations  with  many 
Negro  laborers  operating  under  a  manager  or  many  small  cotton  farms  with  renters, 
in  some  cases  owners.  A  generally  low  intelligence  predominates  among  the  workers 
and  their  families  because  of  social  inheritances  and  there  are  consequently  backward 
agricultural  methods  in  use.  There  is  considerable  social  life,  especially  on  the 
plantations  and  some  cooperation  between  neighbor  farmers. 

Other  types  of  agricultural  communities  are  devoted  to  fruit-raising,  stock-raising, 
market-gardening  and  dairying. 


Country  Population  1910 
Darkest  portions  show  greatest 
density 


State 

Number 

State 

Number 

State 

Number 

State 

Number 

Texas . 

2,702,133 

Mississippi . 

1,419,434 

California _ ... 

754,758 

Massachusetts.. . 

241,049 

Pennsylvania. . 

2,452,483 

Indiana . 

1,257,584 

Nebraska . 

638,070 

Montana . 

207,447 

Georgia.  .• . 

1,784,668 

1,669,331 

Michigan . 

Arkansas  .• . 

1,197,174 

1,197,004 

Maryland . 

568,271 

479,652 

Idaho.  . . . 

196,815 

174,133 

North  Carolina. 

New  Jersey . 

New  Hampshire . 

Ohio.  .  . 

1,649,948 

1,609,804 

1,603,151 

1,575,826 

South  Carolina 

1,161,208 

1,106,413 

1,106,002 

1,091,289 

Florida . 

446,030 

415,928 

415,800 

389,536 

Vermont . 

167,652 

124,688 

119,773 

113,905 

Tennessee . 

Oklahoma. .... 

Washington. . . . 
North  Dakota. 

Arizona. . 

Alabama . 

Iowa. . . 

Utah 

New  York . 

Wisconsin . 

South  Dakota. . . 

Connecticut.  . . . 

Kentucky-.  . . 

1,545,591 

Louisiana . 

1,050,070 

918,585 

899,248 

Maine . 

354,991 

297,427 

275,963 

Wyoming . . 

79,359 

76,210 

59,596 

Missouri . 

1,535,719 

1,486,160 

Kansas. 

Delaware . 

Nevada . 

Illinois . . 

Minnesota.  . .  . 

Oregon.  .... _ 

Virginia . 

1,472,109 

West  Virginia. 

860,479 

New  Mexico.  . 

263,117 

Rhode  Island.. . , 

Total . . 

17,956 

41,229,539 

HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


51 


LESS  FAVORED  AGRICULTURAL 
SECTIONS 

THE  more  sparsely  settled  and  less  favored 
agricultural  sections  include  the  hill  land 
extending  from  the  central  part  of  Oklahoma 
in  the  northeasterly  direction  through  Arkansas, 
southern  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  south¬ 
ern  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  West  Virginia, 
Virginia  and  parts  of  Pennsylvania;  and  the 
northern  pine  belt  extending  from  Minnesota 
through  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  parts  of  New 
York  and  the  New  England  states. 

This  section  consists  largely  of  small  isolated 
communities  difficult  of  access.  Poverty  pre¬ 
vents  many  communities  from  erecting  church 
buildings  or  maintaining  a  pastor. 

THE  FRONTIER 

HE  frontier  section  includes  twelve  states, 
namely:  Arizona,  California,  Colorado, 
Idaho,  Montana,  Nevada,  New  Mexico,  Ore¬ 
gon,  North  Dakota,  Utah,  Washington  and 
Wyoming.  These  states  with  an  area  of  1,259,- 
977  square  miles  had  a  population  of  only 
6,458,417  in  1910 — approximately  five  people 
to  the  square  mile.  Over  40,000  homestead 
rights  were  granted  and  103,917  entries  made 
in  1917.  Lands  privately  owned  tend  con¬ 
stantly  to  be  subdivided  among  new  settlers. 

In  the  frontier  there  is  a  marked  difference  be¬ 
tween  well  established  communities — such  as 
the  irrigated  fruit  and  grain  sections — and  the 
pioneer  communities.  The  characteristics  of  a 
frontier  community  are  novelty,  movement  and 
uncertainty.  The  population  is  constantly 
changing.  There  is  a  low  standard  of  living. 

Hundreds  of  villages  have  no  Protestant 
churches.  The  church  has  little  relation  to 
present-day  life.  The  great  distances  to  be 
traveled  are  a  drawback  to  co-ordinated  re¬ 
ligious  work. 

RURAL  INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITIES 

HE  rural  industrial  communities  are  rep¬ 
resented  by  the  coal  and  other  mining 
camps;  fishing  villages  along  the  coast;  lumber 
camps;  small  manufacturing  towns— such  as 
cotton  mill  towns  in  the  Piedmont  section  of 
the  South  and  the  mill-towns  of  New  England; 


vacation  resort  villages — some  of  which  have 
a  large  transient  population;  and  the  large 
suburban  population  of  foreign  stock  engaged  in 
truck-farming  near  large  cities. 


URBAN,  VILLAGE  AND 
COUNTRY  POPULATION 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
1910 

The  graph  shows  that  more  than  half  the  population  of  the  United 
States  is  in  rural  territory  and  nearly  half  is  living  in  the  open  country. 


URBAN  RURAL  TOTAL 

42,623,383  49,348,883  91,972,266 


Interchurch  World  Movement  or  north  America  CDA46 


The  cotton  mills  are  supplied  almost  wholly 
by  white  labor  from  the  Appalachian  Moun¬ 
tains.  There  are  few  foreigners  or  negroes 
employed.  Approximately  three  hundred  thou¬ 
sand  people  are  engaged  in  this  industry.  In 
the  main  these  workers  live  in  unincorporated 
villages.  Schools,  community  organizations 
and  churches  are  provided  for  them.  They 
have  no  part  in  elections  and  their  power  of 
initiative  has  largely  atrophied.  All  sorts  of 
religious  “isms”  have  sprung  up;  “Holy 
Rollers”  and  similar  sects  flourish. 

Thousands  of  people  scattered  throughout  the 
country  in  small  settlements  are  getting  raw 
materials  into  the  market  or  turning  them 


52 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Increase  in  Population 

Dots  show  comparative  proportion  of  inward  moving  population 


State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

Oklahoma 

458,341 

70.7 

W.  Va.... 

107,380 

14.3 

Idaho. . . . 

70,464 

55.8 

Wyoming. 

26,210 

49.3 

Texas .... 

334,390 

14.1 

Louisiana. 

100,706 

10.6 

Montana . 

64,377 

45.0 

Nebraska. 

13,427 

2.1 

N.  Dak.. . 

167,802 

67.7 

New  Mex. 

100,203 

61.5 

Oregon .  .  . 

46,069 

20.0 

Minnesota 

8,758 

1.0 

Wash .... 

167,324 

67.3 

Alabama  . 

96,578 

6.4 

Virginia .  . 

42,695 

3.0 

Utah . 

8,244 

7.4 

Penna. .  .  . 

138,362 

6.0 

Miss . 

95,668 

7.2 

Kentucky 

33,644 

2.2 

Maine. . . . 

2,927 

.8 

California 

138,152 

22.4 

S.  Dak.  .  . 

94,643 

32.1 

N.  J . 

31,697 

7.1 

Mass . 

2,801 

1.2 

N.  Car.  . . 

110,610 

7.1 

Colorado  . 

94,538 

46.6 

Arizona.. . 

30,101 

31.8 

Delaware. 

1,524 

2.0 

Arkansas . 

110,215 

10.1 

S.  Car. . . . 

81,930 

7.6 

Maryland 

28,100 

5.2 

Georgia. . . 

108,399 

6.5 

Florida. . . 

78,016 

21.2 

Nevada.. . 

26,863 

82.1 

GREAT  movements  of  population  are  taking  place.  A  single  genera¬ 
tion  has  seen  the  northwest  increase  its  population  tenfold.  These 
people  leave  problems  behind  them  as  well  as  bring  some  with  them. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


53 


Decrease  in  Population 

Dots  show  comparative  proportion  of  outward  moving  population 


State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

State 

Number 

Per 

cent 

152,673 

12.1 

Ohio . 

91,498 

5.3 

Tennessee 

10,089 

.6 

R.  I . 

2,953 

14.1 

Missouri. . 

133^514 

8.0 

New  York 

49,231 

3.0 

Michigan. 

9,946 

.8 

Conn . 

R039 

.9 

Indiana.. . 

132,195 

9.5 

Vermont.. 

20,909 

11.1 

Wisconsin 

8,201 

.7 

Illinois .  .  . 

112,225 

7.0 

N.  H . 

11,186 

6.0 

Kansas . . . 

4,773 

.5 

THE  South  and  the  Far  West  are  drawing  their  “new  comers” 
from  the  more  populous  centers  of  the  East  and  central  West. 
This  means  church  problems  in  the  communities  deserted  as  well  as  in 
the  new  found  locations. 


54 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


into  manufactured  products.  A  large  percent¬ 
age  of  these  people  are  foreigners,  unfamiliar 
with  American  ideals  and  standards,  crowded 
together  in  small  shacks,  ignorant,  poor  and 
without  an  understanding  of  our  language, 
customs  and  laws. 

The  population  is  transient,  especially  in  lumber 
camps  and  mining  towns.  Men  are  herded 
together  in  lumber  camps  under  unsanitary 
conditions  and  without  home  ties  or  religious 
life.  The  average  mining  town  does  not  last 
longer  than  40  years  and  in  many  cases  the 
villages  are  abandoned  after  ten  or  fifteen 
years. 

THE  MOUNTAIN  SECTION 

HE  mountain  section  stretches  along  the 
southern  portion  of  the  Appalachian  Moun¬ 
tains  and  extends  into  northern  Georgia  and 
Alabama,  embracing  a  region  of  two  or  three 
million  acres.  Here  the  people  have  lived  for 
the  most  part  by  hunting,  fishing  and  growing 


such  corn  and  vegetables  as  were  absolutely 
needed.  This  elevated  region  is  rich  in  timber 
and  mineral  deposits.  The  chief  occupations 
are  agriculture,  logging  and,  until  recently — 
distilling. 

The  main  features  of  this  section’s  problem  are: 
isolation,  illiteracy  and  arrested  development 
due  largely  to  the  influences  of  too  close  inter¬ 
marriage.  Housing  and  general  living  condi¬ 
tions  are  not  good  and  result  in  the  widespread 
prevalence  of  disease.  There  are  few  schools 
and  churches,  little  knowledge  of  what  goes  on 
in  the  outside  world  and  small  interest  in  either 
local  or  national  politics. 

Most  of  the  preaching  is  now  done  by  voluntary 
pastors,  of  little  education  and  training,  with 
a  great  but  almost  superstitious  belief  and  faith 
in  God.  Large  portions  of  this  country  have 
no  religious  services  of  any  kind.  Many  of  the 
people  are  so  isolated  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  attend  worship. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


55 


Rural  Problems 

DIFFERENCES  in  environment  produce  distinctive  traits  in  the  population. 

The  occupations  of  a  region  are  to  a  considerable  degree  determined  by 
that  region  and  the  types  of  society  are  fixed  by  occupations  because  they 
determine  interests,  organizations,  outlook  and  culture.  Where  the  occupations  are 
subject  to  change,  the  social  character  of  the  community  is  variable. 

A  declining  church  membership  and  attendance  at  religious  worship  are  due  in  part 
to  shifting  population,  increasing  tenancy  and  changing  economic  conditions. 

This  decline  is  paradoxical;  for  country  people  are  generally  staid,  orderly,  well- 
intentioned  and  now,  after  fifty  lean  years,  prosperous.  But  the  churches  are  dying 
in  so  many  instances  and  arrested  in  so  many  others  that  the  whole  condition  of 
the  rural  church  is  moribund. 

The  Ohio  Rural  Life  Survey  found  that  of  1,515  churches  in  31  counties  more  than 
two-thirds  were  arrested  or  dying.  Of  the  open  country  churches  over  three-fourths 
were  not  growing. 


RURAL  INDUSTRIAL  AMERICA 


^  I- - 


!  „  ' 


! _  i-- — $ 

f  Vv.  _  — 


Miron 

OIL 


V///\  COAL,  LIGHT  DEPOSITS 


COAL  HEAVY  DEPOSITS 

tnterchurch  World  Movement  of  Worth  America . 


-L-~— '  ^  ,  • 

\  |||„.  .t— 

V  . 

S  ^  .III 


G.D.  248. 


56 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  farmers'  church  is  much  worse  off  than  the  village  church.  Wherever  the  farmer — 
a  workingman  and  investor  combined  in  one  type — touches  the  Protestant  church  he 
treats  it  with  striking  avoidance.  One  would  expect  the  opposite.  But  in  Ohio,  the 
only  state  surveyed  completely,  open  country  churches  were  worse  by  22  per  cent, 
than  town  churches  and  more  than  twice  as  bad  as  the  village  church  in  arrested 
development. 

The  workingman  attends  the  country  church  less  than  his  employer  does.  In  Missouri 
attendance  upon  church  and  membership  in  church  corresponded  pretty  accurately 
to  the  size  of  a  man's  farm.  The  small  farmers — who  “work  out" — and  the  tenants 
were  about  one-half  as  numerous  as  owners  among  the  church  members  and  church¬ 
goers.  In  Ohio  where  41  per  cent,  of  the  farms  are  run  by  tenant-farmers  only 
22  per  cent,  of  them  were  found  on  the  church  rolls. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


57 


The  country  churches  are  small.  In  an  arrested  or  diminished  population  a  church 
of  less  than  one  hundred  members  is  likely  to  die.  Its  chance  of  life  is  not  more 
than  one  in  three.  Yet  in  Ohio  60  per  cent,  of  the  churches  in  the  village  and  open 
country  are  of  this  small,  hopeless  membership — less  than  one  hundred  in  size.  In 
Ohio  55  per  cent,  of  the  churches  have  less  than  75  members. 


HIGH  RATES  OF 
ILLEGITIMACY 


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Illegitimate  Births 

AVERAGE  ANNUALRATE PER 
100,000  POPULATION  FOR 
THE  YEARS  1909  AND  1910 
RATE  FOR  STATE  43.9 

LESS  THAN  43.9  PER  100,000  I 
43.3  TO  60  PER  100,000 
61  TO  75  PER  100,000 
76  TO  90  PER  100,000 

110  TO  130  PER  100,000 

G.D.242 


58 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


NO  COMMUNITY  CENTERS 

HE  rural  church  as  a  rule  has  failed  to  live 
up  to  its  possibility  as  a  community  center. 
With  a  non-resident  pastor  people  are  not 
reached  and  the  leadership  of  the  church  in 
creating  and  registering  Christian  opinion  and 
practise  in  community  affairs  is  lost.  A  great 
majority  of  country  churches  stands  idle 
through  most  of  the  year. 

Considering  that  rural  churches  are  generally 
bunched  in  villages  and  grouped  in  competitive 
areas  in  the  open  country  it  is  evident  that  the 
places  are  many  in  which  one  church  must 
depend  upon  only  ten  or  twenty  families. 

THE  CIRCUIT  SYSTEM 

VERY  few  country  churches  receive  the 
full  time  of  a  pastor.  Ministers  cross  and 
recross  one  another's  paths,  serving  two,  four 
or  even  eight  and  ten  churches.  Of  the  17,000 
country  churches  of  one  denomination,  12,000 
are  without  services  every  Sunday.  Another 
denomination  has  nine-tenths  of  its  rural 
churches  served  by  absentee  pastors;  and  three- 
fourths  of  its  churches  have  but  one  service 
per  month;  while  one-fourth  have  no  Sunday 
school  at  all. 

In  Ohio  only  13  per  cent,  of  country  ministers 
were  resident.  The  rest  live  apart  from  the 
churches.  Country  ministers  have  abandoned 
the  idea  of  living  near  their  people  and  by  their 
churches. 

All  of  this  indicates  that  in  the  early  future  we 
will  suffer  a  loss  of  many  country  churches. 
There  are  not  enough  people  to  carry 
them. 

The  withdrawal  of  ministers  from  the  open 
country  is  paralleled  by  the  withdrawal  of  other 
professional  types.  Physicians,  nurses,  lawyers 
— all  have  assembled  themselves  in  villages  and 
big  towns.  The  professional  classes  that  serve 
the  farmer  do  not  live  with  the  farmer. 

INADEQUATE  EQUIPMENT 

HE  average  country  church  is  but  a  single¬ 
cell  structure.  At  best  it  has  but  one  room 
for  church  and  Sunday  school  and  probably  a 
basement  or  addition  for  kitchen  and  primary 


department.  The  frequent  lack  of  a  parsonage 
makes  it  impossible  to  maintain  a  resident 
pastor. 

UNEQUAL  DISTRIBUTION 
OF  FORCES 

ENOMINATIONAL  lines  have  been  so 
tightly  drawn  in  the  country  that  even 
the  economic  urge  of  a  decreasing  population 
fails  to  bring  the  churches  together. 

One  eastern  town  has  six  churches  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  people  and  no  resident 
minister. 

One  well  established  area  in  an  eastern  state  has 
36  churches  within  a  radius  of  six  miles,  while 
adjoining  townships  are  almost  uncared  for  and 
more  than  one  thousand  children  of  school  age 
are  untouched  by  any  religious  influence. 

UNCHURCHED  AREAS 

UNDREDS  of  towns  and  many  whole 
counties  are  without  adequate  churching. 
One  town  of  two  thousand  inhabitants  has  had 
but  an  occasional  service  in  ten  years. 

One  village  fifteen  years  old,  of  four  hundred 
persons,  had  never  seen  a  minister  until  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement  made  a  survey. 

Seventeen  counties  in  the  central  and  far  west¬ 
ern  states  are  reported  as  without  any  churches. 
Twenty-five  thousand  men,  women  and  chil¬ 
dren  in  one  rural  industrial  area  in  a  central 
southeastern  state  are  without  any  religious 
supervision. 

INADEQUATE  PROGRAM  AND 
SALARY 

VER-EMPHASIS  on  emotional  types  of 
religion  often  leads  to  too  great  depend¬ 
ence  upon  the  annual  revival  to  satisfy  the 
religious  needs  of  the  community  and  to  enlarge 
church  membership. 

Low  salaries,  which  discourage  the  best  type  of 
leadership  and  compel  the  minister  to  seek  a 
better  paid  charge  in  the  city.  Sixty-one  per 
cent,  of  the  rural  white  ministry  of  one  large 
denomination  receives  less  than  $1,000  per 
year.  The  minimum  salary  of  a  rural  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  secretary  is  $1,200. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


59 


LACK  OF  LEADERSHIP 

HE  lack  of  a  trained  and  effective  rural 
leadership,  for  which  low  salaries  are  partly 
responsible  is  a  prime  source  of  weakness. 
Young  men  upon  whom  the  church  one  called 
successfully  are  turning  to  other  professions, 
where  they  receive  a  living  wage.  Two  large 
denominations  admit  that  only  10  per  cent,  of 
their  rural  pastors  have  had  college  and  semi¬ 
nary  training.  There  is  a  prevalent  idea  that 
denominational  well-being  is  satisfied  with  the 
up-keep  of  church  organizations  and  preaching 
points  rather  than  by  supplying  such  trained 
religious  leadership  as  will  arouse  the  rural  con¬ 
stituency  to  progressive  work  on  a  self-support¬ 
ing  basis. 

DECADENCE  OF  RURAL 
POPULATIONS 

HERE  is  a  close  relation  between  the 
decadence  of  country  populations  and  the 
degeneration  of  rural  stock.  Rev.  C.  O.  Gill 
in  his  book  “Six  Thousand  Country  Churches” 
shows  that  illiteracy,  illegitimacy,  crime  and 


physical  degeneracy  correspond  in  their  fre¬ 
quency  to  the  decay  of  the  country  church  and 
the  substitution  for  it  of  an  emotional,  irre¬ 
sponsible  religious  type — a  great  danger  to 
Protestantism  and  Americanism. 

FOREIGN-BORN  FARMERS 

HERE  is  an  increasing  number  of  foreign- 
born  farmers  in  New  England,  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  in  the  farming  and  small- 
fruit  sections  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

The  church  fails  to  minister  to  them  and  thus 
the  losing  struggle  for  its  existence  continues. 
It  also  loses  an  unparalleled  opportunity  for 
evangelism  and  community  service. 

A  summary  of  the  social  complex  presented  by  a 
single  typical  county  is  presented  herewith. 

COUNTY  259 

Area,  473  square  miles;  population  64  per 
square  mile;  level,  rich  agricultural  county; 
chief  products,  cattle  and  grain;  67  per  cent, 
of  farms  are  operated  by  owners;  no  farmers’ 


, PERCENTAGE  OF  FOREIGN-BORN  FARMERS 


^ _  OVER  50 

’inter church  World  Movement  of  Worth  America 


G.D.247 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


61  ' 


cooperative  enterprises;  approximately  two- 
thirds  of  road-mileage  is  hard  surfaced  or  other¬ 
wise  improved. 

Social  agencies:  9  dance  halls,  7  moving-pic¬ 
ture  houses,  29  pool  rooms,  5  bowling  alleys, 
3  public  libraries,  4  granges,  30  lodges,  4  bands, 
7  orchestras,  1  community  chorus;  schools  are 
good. 

II.  Population,  30,400  in  1910  —  practically 
stationary.  The  county  seat  has  a  population 
of  7,200,  leaving  23,200  for  the  remainder  of 
county  covered  by  rural  survey;  90  per  cent,  of 
population  has  lived  in  county  over  15  years. 

There  are  nine  rural  trade  communities;  some 
overchurching  and  some  underchurching. 

III.  The  churches  number  63  outside  the 
county  seat.  There  are  13  abandoned  churches, 
12  of  which  closed  during  the  last  3  years;  11 
of  the  abandoned  churches  are  in  the  open 
country;  1  in  a  village  of  750  with  2  other 
churches. 

Resident  membership  of  rural  churches  is  5,770 
or  24.8  per  cent,  of  the  population;  38  churches 
have  lost  902  members  in  4  years.  In  one 
community  (population  453)  15  per  cent,  are 
members  of  2  churches.  In  community  I 
(population  2,113)  15  per  cent,  are  members 
of  three  churches;  in  community  II  (population 
3,145)  12  per  cent,  are  members  of  6  churches; 
in  community  III  (population  2,100)  5  per 
cent,  are  members  of  2  churches. 


Rural  Sunday  school  average  attendance, 
3,540 — 15.2  per  cent,  of  population;  no  pro¬ 
vision  for  leadership  training;  only  8  Sunday 
school  pupils  have  entered  Christian  work  in 
10  years. 

Other  organizations:  47  for  women,  4  for  men, 
3  for  girls,  1  for  boys. 

Thirty  pastors  minister  to  county;  one-fourth 
of  county  has  only  1  resident  minister;  re¬ 
mainder  has  29;  salaries  average  $1,045  a 
pastor;  $589  a  church;  four  pastors  receive 
$700,  $450,  $364  and  $45  respectively  without 
parsonages;  12  churches  have  one-fourth  of 
minister’s  time;  6,  one-third;  14,  one-half;  4  are 
pastorless;  19  full-time;  five  pastors  travel 
100  miles,  55  miles,  50  miles,  40  miles  and  22 
miles  respectively  to  reach  their  churches. 

IV.  Needs:  (1)  At  least  10  rural  church  centers 
with  adequate  plants.  This  would  ensure 
proper  provision  for  religious  education,  social 
gatherings  and  recreation;  (2)  Such  a  distribu¬ 
tion  of  ministers  as  will  give  the  responsible 
churches  in  each  community  full-time  resident 
pastors,  with  assistants  where  necessary;  (3) 
Provision  for  needed  modern  parsonages  and 
increased  pastoral  support;  (4)  A  unified  pro¬ 
gram  to  apply  principles  of  Christianity  to 
social,  economic,  educational  and  recreational 
life  in  every  community;  (5)  Training  confer¬ 
ences  of  pastors  and  laymen  to  provide  leader¬ 
ship  for  a  cooperative  campaign  to  reach  the 
unchurched  majority. 


62 


Town  and  Country :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  Forces 

DESPITE  its  problems,  rural  America  is  not  lost  to  Christ.  There  are  no 
less  than  150,000  country  churches  served  by  an  army  of  50,000  rural 
ministers. 

The  larger  home  mission  boards  are  beginning  to  organize  separate  departments  for 
country  church  work. 

There  is  an  increasing  number  of  demonstration  rural  church  centers  working  on  the 
basis  of  scientific  surveys  of  their  fields.  These  point  the  way  to  better  things  in 
worship,  religious  education  and  community  service. 

Educational  literature  has  been  specially  prepared  for  the  rural  ministry. 

Chairs  of  rural  sociology  are  being  established  in  some  theological  seminaries. 

Summer  schools  for  rural  leadership  training  are  being  held  by  several  denominations. 

There  is  cooperation  among  the  agricultural  colleges,  government  and  welfare 
agencies. 

The  rural  church  has  a  great  opportunity  to  become  a  community  center  of  wide 
appeal  and  diversified  usefulness.  It  has  few  if  any  rivals.  It  could,  with  adequate 
equipment  and  leadership,  become  the  most  influential  force  for  religious,  educational 
and  social  betterment. 

The  rural  field  is  comparatively  free  from  the  many  alluring  forms  of  vice  and  wicked¬ 
ness  that  flourish  in  the  cities.  It  is  poor  in  its  provision  of  legitimate  recreation  and 
amusement,  but  it  eagerly  responds  to  these  when  properly  provided  and  presented. 
It  has  been  socially  starved.  Hence  the  migration  of  young  people  to  the  urban 
centers. 

The  popularity  of  chautauquas  and  lyceums  indicates  the  richness  of  the  field  of  mental 
and  moral  endeavor  which  the  rural  church  has  at  its  doors  and  needs  only  the  proper 
equipment  and  leadership  to  cultivate,  to  the  great  advantage  of  both  church  and 
people. 

One  great  advantage  of  rural  church  activities  along  these  lines  is  that  it  associates 
the  church  with  the  whole  life  and  labors  of  the  community.  Religion  then  takes 
its  rightful  place  as  the  mainspring  of  all  endeavor  and  serves  as  a  helpful  guide  in 
matters  relating  to  thought  and  conduct. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Town  and  Country 


63 


Bring  every  family  in  America  definitely  within  the  scope  of  gospel  ministration  and 
influence. 

In  old  settled  counties  there  are  neighborhoods  unreached  by  the  church.  These  must 
be  occupied. 

In  new  and  growing  counties  of  the  West  there  are  large,  populated  areas  with  no 
form  of  religious  ministration.  These  areas  are  being  surveyed,  mapped  and  their 
needs  studied  in  order  to  discover  the  best  way  to  evangelize  them — whether  by 
colporter  and  itinerant  missionary  or  by  settled  pastor  and  community  worker. 

Discover  and  energetically  promote  every  country  church  which  occupies  a  strategic 
position  for  service.  This  should  be  done  regardless  of  previous  missionary  status. 

Apply  to  all  rural  churches  a  minimum  standard  of  efficiency.  In  the  average  case 
such  a  standard  would  involve  a  resident  pastor;  adequate  equipment  for  worship, 
religious  education  and  community  service;  regular  worship  and  preaching;  purposeful 
pastoral  visitation;  adequate  financial  program;  organized  graded  Bible  school; 
enlistment  and  training  of  local  leaders;  ministry  to  special  groups — boys,  men, 
girls,  women,  tenants,  new  Americans;  adequate  provision  for  recreation  and  social 
life;  and  definite  cordial  cooperation  with  other  churches  of  the  community. 

The  claims  of  the  rural  ministry  in  its  varied  forms  as  a  life-work  should  be  presented 
with  such  conviction  as  to  compel  the  strongest  young  men  and  women  to  give  their 
lives  to  the  up-building  of  rural  life  in  America. 

Short-course  training  conferences  should  be  for  graduate  instruction  organized  in  all 
subjects  related  to  highest  development  of  the  rural  community  and  the  church’s 
relation  to  it. 

Adequate  opportunity  should  be  given  for  thorough  and  specialized  training  in  colleges 
and  seminaries  for  men  who  are  to  spend  their  lives  in  rural  church  work. 

Cooperation  should  be  promoted  among  various  churches  in  the  location  of  demon¬ 
stration  centers  so  that  there  shall  be  at  least  one  in  every  rural  county. 

An  outstanding  religious  periodical  should  be  established  for  circulation  in  town  and 
country  which  all  the  Christian  agencies  interested  in  rural  Christian  life  would  use 
and  support. 


' 


. 


H 


: 


NEGRO  AMERICANS 


NEGRO  AMERICANS 


ONE  out  of  every  ten  people  in  the  continental  United  States  is  a  Negro. 

The  present  population  is  between  ten  and  eleven  millions— more  than 
double  that  of  1865. 

The  Negro  population  has  not  increased  as  rapidly  as  the  white. 

At  the  time  of  the  last  census  there  were  56,000  more  female  persons  than  male  in  the 
total  Negro  population.  This  means  that  for  every  1,000  women  there  were  989  men. 

Among  the  whites  the  situation  was  different;  there  were  1,068  white  male  persons 
for  .every  1,000  white  female. 

In  1910,  thirteen  southern  states  reported  Negro  populations  of  more  than  200,000. 
In  eight  of  them  the  number  exceeded  600,000.  These  thirteen  states  contained 
six-sevenths  of  the  Negro  population  of  the  country. 

There  are  1,350  counties  in  the  sixteen  southern  states;  in  818  of  them  Negroes 
comprised  one-eighth  or  more  of  the  total  population  in  1910;  while  in  264,  more 
than  half  the  population  was  Negro. 


Fifty  Years  of  Negro  Progress 

1860 

1910 

20,000.  . 

. Farms  Operated . 

.  900,000 

- 

. Farms  Owned . 

.  241,000 

12,000.  . 

. Homes  Owned . 

.  500,000 

2,100.  .  . 

. Business  Enterprises . 

45,000 

90% .  . 

. Illiteracy . 

30% 

100,000.  . 

. Public  School  Pupils . 

.1,800,000 

600.  . 

. Teachers . 

30,000 

. Educational  Endowment . 

.8,000,000 

. In  Professional  Service . 

60,000 

. In  Government  Service . 

24,000 

. Newspapers  and  Periodicals . 

300 

68 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


FOR  the  past  fifty  years  there  has  been  a  con¬ 
tinuous  migration  of  Negroes  northward  and 
westward.  This  movement  is  shown  by  the 
continually  increasing  percentage  of  Negroes 
in  certain  large  northern  cities. 

Sixty  years  ago  more  than  92  per  cent,  of  the 
Negroes  lived  in  the  South.  According  to  the 
last  census  the  number  has  decreased  each 
decade  to  about  89  per  cent. 

THE  NORTHERN  MIGRATION 

THE  report  of  the  Department  of  Labor 
on  “Negro  Migration  in  1916-17”  sum¬ 
marizes  the  situation  as  follows: 

For  a  number  of  years  it  has  been  apparent  to  even  the 
casual  observer  that  a  stream  of  Negroes  has  been  flowing 
into  the  North  from  the  border  southern  states.  Some 
have  been  going  from  the  lower  South  also,  but  that 
section  has  not  hitherto  been  greatly  affected.  However, 
recent  extraordinary  occurrences, — the  war  in  Europe, 
with  the  consequent  shortage  of  labor  in  the  north,  the 
ravages  of  the  boll  weevil  and  flood  conditions  in  the 
south — have  set  on  foot  a  general  movement  of  Negroes 
northward  that  is  affecting  the  whole  South. 

Other  “causes  assigned  at  the  southern  end  are 
numerous:  General  dissatisfaction  with  con¬ 
ditions,  ravages  of  boll  weevil,  floods,  change  of 
crop  system,  low  wages,  poor  houses  on  plan¬ 
tations,  poor  school  facilities,  unsatisfactory 
crop  settlements,  rough  treatment,  lynching, 
desire  for  travel,  labor  agents,  the  Negro  press, 


letters  from  friends  in  the  North,  and  finally 
advice  of  white  friends  in  the  South  where  crops 
had  failed.” 

THE  CITY  INFLUX 

HREE-FOURTHS  of  the  Negro  popula¬ 
tion  is  still  rural.  There  has  been,  how¬ 
ever,  a  steady  stream  of  Negroes  to  the  cities 
at  a  rate  quite  comparable  with  the  influx  of 
whites.  In  1890,  less  than  one  out  of  five 
Negroes  lived  in  towns  of  2,500  or  larger.  By 
1910,  more  than  27  per  cent,  were  living  under 
urban  conditions.  At  that  time  there  were  179 
cities  having  more  than  2,500  Negro  inhabi¬ 
tants.  Forty-three  of  these  cities  contain  Negro 
populations  of  over  10,000.  Segregated,  these 
people  constitute  Negro  cities  within  cities. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  WAR 

HE  whole  problem  of  race  relationships 
has  been  greatly  affected  by  the  World 
War.  During  the  few  years  of  the  great  Euro¬ 
pean  struggle  the  status  of  the  Negro  was  com¬ 
pletely  changed.  The  scarcity  of  labor  afforded 
steady  work  at  relatively  high  wages  to  all,  but 
especially  to  manual  laborers.  Government 
propaganda  helped  to  give  these  people  a  new 
sense  of  their  value.  Negro  soldiers  received 
the  same  pay  and  wore  the  same  uniform  as 
other  soldiers.  The  Negro  thus  gained  new 
standards  of  living  and  a  new  vision. 


NEGRO  AND  WHITE  POPULATION 
AT  EACH  CENSUS:  1790-1910 


MILLIONS 


NEGRO  POPULATION 
ITE  POPULATION 


Inter  church  World  Movement  of  North  America 


G.DI27A. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


69 


Economic  Life 

IN  1910  seventy-one  out  of  every  hundred  Negroes  (of  ten  years  of  age  and  over) 
were  gainfully  employed.  In  the  south  the  proportion  was  about  87  per  cent, 
and  for  the  total  white  population,  ten  years  of  age  and  over,  it  was  51  per  cent. 
More  than  half  of  these  Negroes  were  engaged  in  agriculture  and  nearly  half  of  those 
in  agriculture  were  farm  laborers. 

In  1910  out  of  893,870  Negro  farm  laborers  one-fourth  of  them  were  owners  or  part 
owners  of  farms.  In  a  single  decade  the  number  of  Negro  farm  owners  increased 
about  seventeen  per  cent.  In  the  south  three  out  of  four  Negro  farm  laborers  were 
tenants. 

There  is  a  gradual  movement  of  Negro  laborers  from  the  unskilled  to  the  semi-skilled 
and  skilled  occupations.  In  a  single  decade,  1900  to  1910,  the  number  of  factory 
workers  increased  173  per  cent;  textile  workers  283  per  cent. 

An  incomplete  investigation  by  the  Department  of  Labor  covering  244  plants  in 
8  typical  industries  where  Negroes  were  largely  employed  showed  that  they  com¬ 
pared  fairly  well  with  other  workers  as  to  absenteeism  during  working  hours,  labor 
turnover,  and  quantity  and  quality  of  work  done. 

There  are  special  problems  connected  with  the  adjustment  of  colored  women  in 
industry  and  probably  in  domestic  and  personal  service. 

The  demands  for  Negro  labor  in  the  north  during  the  World  War  accelerated  tre¬ 
mendously  the  movement  of  Negroes  from  the  south.  The  number  has  been  variously 
estimated  from  300,000  to  more  than  500,000.  The  resulting  race  friction  and  diffi¬ 
culties  of  racial  cooperation  imperatively  call  for  the  mediating  influence  of  the  church. 
Recent  race  riots  challenge  all  Americans  to  maintain  good-will,  law  and  order. 

Welfare  agencies,  boards,  women's  clubs  and  associations  have  helped  to  secure 
training  and  industrial  opportunities  for  Negroes  in  towns  and  cities. 

In  many  cities  some  of  the  churches,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  and  affiliated 
organizations  have  blazed  the  paths  showing  how  religious  agencies  may  bring  the 
principles  and  ideals  of  Jesus  to  bear  upon  the  modern  industrial  problems  confronting 
Negro  workers  in  towns  and  cities. 

Churches  in  rural  districts,  notably  in  Virginia  and  Mississippi,  have  cooperated  to 
improve  farm  conditions. 


70 


CONSTRUCTIVE  FORCES: 
GOVERNMENT  AGENCIES 

XECUTIVE  departments  of  the  federal 
government,  especially  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  through  its  farm  demonstration 
agents,  and  the  Department  of  Labor  through 
its  Negro  economics  division,  have  done  con¬ 
structive  work  for  improving  the  efficiency  and 
conditions  of  Negroes  who  labor  in  agriculture 
and  industry. 

PROPOSED  POLICIES  AND 
PROGRAM 

USTICE  is  the  only  sure  basis  of  racial 
cooperation.  As  exponents  of  righteousness, 
Christian  people  have  the  opportunity  to 
demonstrate  to  the  world,  by  example  that  (1) : 
fundamental  conflicts  of  interest  between  races 
can  be  settled  upon  the  basis  of  common-sense 
and  brotherly  spirit  rather  than  upon  the  basis 
of  brutal  force;  (2)  facilities  for  education  and 
training  of  Negro  wage-earners,  especially  in 
the  shop  and  in  spare  hours  must  be  provided; 
(3)  councils  of  representative  citizens  should  be 
organized  by  the  churches  of  the  community, 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


white  and  colored,  for  the  purpose  of  inter¬ 
racial  discussion  of  the  problems  of  white 
workers,  Negro  workers  and  employers;  (4) 
employment  bureaus,  through  which  the  worker 
may  find  suitable  employment,  may  be  es¬ 
tablished  by  the  Negro  churches;  (5)  coopera¬ 
tive  buying  through  the  Negro  church  might 
be  encouraged  and  developed;  (6)  in  the  rural 
districts  the  churches  might  be  a  medium  for 
landlord  and  tenant  to  come  together  to  settle 
their  interests  on  a  Christian  basis;  (7)  exten¬ 
sion  classes  should  be  formed  to  fit  the  Negro 
worker  already  employed  for  greater  efficiency 
in  his  work  in  occupations  now  open  and  in 
preparation  for  advanced  positions  in  the  future; 
(8)  trained  community  workers  are  needed  in 
every  town  and  city  church  to  visit  the  places 
of  work  and  the  homes  of  Negro  women  who 
are  now  going  through  their  first  experiences  in 
modern  industry;  (9)  training  in  domestic 
science  should  be  provided  for  migrant  Negro 
women  who  seek  employment  in  domestic 
service;  (10)  a  thrift  organization  and  propa¬ 
ganda  is  needed  in  every  church  to  help  Negroes 
conserve  their  surplus  earnings  for  the  inevitable 
rainy  day. 


mmmmmm  mm  mzz. 


mmmz. 


vMwrn 


mm. 


mmrnfy. 


•mz. 


. f-.  •" 


z  mm  V/////M  wwA 


\y////////mm%M 


mmmmmm. 


DECENNIAL  PERCENTAGE  INCREASE  OF  THE 
NEGRO  AND  OF  THE  WHITE  POPULATION:  1790-1910 


PER  CENT. 
16  20 


1900-1910 


1890-1900 


1880-1890 


1870-1880 


1860-1870 


1860-1860 


1840-1850 


1830-1840 


1820-1830 


1810-1820 


1800-1810 


1790-1800 


f  IWHITE 


NEGRO 


Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


S.  D  127 B. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


71 


Housing  Conditions 

IN  NORTHERN  cities — Chicago,  Detroit,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  more 
than  a  score  of  others, large  and  small — the  recent  Negro  migration  has  created 
acute  housing  conditions.  Where  Negroes  have  moved  into  houses  which  whites 
have  vacated  they  usually  pay  higher  and  often  excessive  rents.  To  pay  these  rents 
the  houses  are  crowded  with  lodgers,  bringing  physical  and  moral  ills  to  the  family 
and  all  concerned. 

In  many  southern  cities  colored  people  who  do  not  own  their  homes  are  housed 
either  in  “gun-barrel”  frame  shanties  and  cottages  or  in  tenement  “arks”  of  a  pigeon 
house  type,  with  little  or  no  sanitary  facilities.  Regulation  about  such  matters 
as  garbage  collection  are  often  inadequate,  and  unpaved,  undrained,  unpoliced 
streets  are  often  the  rule  even  in  the  best  Negro  neighborhoods. 

Housing  conditions  affect  health.  It  has  been  estimated  that  450,000  Negroes  in 
the  south  are  continuously  sick,  costing  them  $75,000,000  annually  and  entailing  a 
loss  in  earnings  of  $45,000,000.  It  is  further  estimated  that  600,000  Negroes  will  die 
of  tuberculosis,  of  whom  at  least  150,000  could  be  saved  by  preventive  measures. 


(Texas; 


PER  CENT  OF  ILLITERATES  IN  THE  NEGRO  POPULATION : 

10  YEARS  OF  AGE  AND  OVER, 


Less  than  1  per  cent 


ES3  "o  3  per  cent 
^  3*o  5  per  cent 
5  to  10  per  cent 
10  to  15  per  cent 
1 5  to  25  per  cent 
25  per  cent  and  over 

The  heavy  lines{«aa)show  geographic  divisions 

Interchurch  WbrkJ  Movement  oT  North  America 


G  a  2/9 


72 

FIGHT  FOR  DECENCY 

N  BOTH  northern  and  southern  cities  the 
“red  light”  districts,  both  white  and  colored, 
often  touch  upon  or  are  located  within  the 
segregated  Negro  neighborhoods.  Without 
adequate  police  provision  and  with  frequent 
political  connivance,  respectable  homes  of  black 
folk  often  wage  battles  almost  single-handed 
and  alone  for  protection  against  these  dangers. 

The  saloon  has  been  driven  from  these  neigh¬ 
borhoods,  but  “buffet  flats” — a  sort  of  high- 
class  combination  of  gambling  parlor,  “blind 
tiger”  and  house  of  assignation — yet  flourish  in 
many  cities. 

RURAL  CABINS 

MANY  Negro  farm-owners  still  live  in  one- 
room  cabins.  Often  those  who  possess 
the  means  do  not  realize  the  advantages  of 
living  in  good,  well-built  houses. 

The  Negro  plantation  tenants  and  farm-hands 
must  depend  upon  the  landlord  to  emancipate 
them  from  the  one-room  cabin  with  the  “lean- 
to”  kitchen,  without  ventilation  or  privacy. 

CONSTRUCTIVE  FORCES: 

MODEL  TENEMENTS 

N  SEVERAL  northern  cities — notably  New 
York,  Philadelphia  and  Cincinnati — model 
tenements  have  been  constructed  by  philan¬ 
thropic  citizens.  Several  large  industrial  cor¬ 
porations  have  built  model  houses  and  villages 
for  Negro  employees — notably  in  Birmingham, 
Ala.,  Maryville,  Tenn.,  Baden,  N.  C.,  Middle- 
town,  Ohio,  and  at  other  places. 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 

HOUSING  CAMPAIGNS 

ETTER  housing  campaigns  have  been  pro¬ 
moted  by  Negro  churches  mainly  in  the 
rural  districts  of  Virginia  and  Mississippi 
through  joint  organizations  both  local  and 
state- wide. 

LEGISLATION 

EVERAL  local  and  national  agencies  have 
done  notable  work  investigating  housing 
conditions  and  promoting  legislation  for  better 
housing. 

PROPOSED  POLICIES  AND  PROGRAM 

A  DJUSTMENTS  of  race  relations  involve 
Jty,  the  cooperative  action  of  the  northern 
whites,  the  southern  whites  and  the  Negroes 
themselves. 

The  church  might  promote  the  building  of 
model  tenements  in  the  cities;  advocate  that 
unsuitable  dwellings  be  repaired  or  help  make 
many  houses  already  built  suitable  by  repairing 
and  remodeling;  create  a  sentiment  for  better 
building  laws  and  their  enforcement;  and  lead 
the  forces  of  law  and  order  and  morality  to  pro¬ 
tect  respectable  Negro  neighborhoods  from 
vicious  elements — Negro  and  white. 

In  the  rural  districts  the  churches  might  lead 
in  cooperative  efforts  to  bring  the  latest  in¬ 
formation  about  home  building  to  the  Negro 
farm  owner  and  part  owner,  and  foster  “clean¬ 
up”  and  “home  beautiful”  campaigns,  covering 
such  items  as  the  whitewashing  and  the  paint¬ 
ing  of  houses.  White  churches  in  rural  districts 
might  help  greatly  in  this  work. 


THE  NEGRO  faces  a  dilemma  when  he  migrates  from  his  southern  shack 
to  a  northern  home.  He  pays  an  excessive  rent,  to  raise  which  he  must 
crowd  his  rooms  with  promiscuous  lodgers,  to  the  detriment  of  his  health 
and  the  impairment  of  his  morals. 

A  northern  migration  holds  peril  for  both  the  Negro  and  his  white  neighbors, 
but  the  odds  are  against  the  Negro,  racial  animosity  and  unfair  political 
discrimination  turning  the  scale  against  him. 

Only  the  Christian  ideal  of  brotherhood  can  solve  this  problem  for  both 
races. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


73 


Health  Conditions 


HEALTH  is  the  passport  to  race  perpetuity;  mortality  points  the  finger 
toward  health  needs.  Conservation  of  health  increases  both  the  individual 
and  the  social  capacity  for  service  in  every  form. 

In  the  registration  area  the  total  number  of  deaths  in  1913  was  820,204  for  whites, 
and  67,266  for  Negroes.  The  death-rate  per  1,000  of  the  population  of  this  area 
was  13.7  for  whites,  21.9  for  Negroes. 

Certain  preventable  diseases — typhoid  fever,  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  pneumonia, 
Bright's  disease,  diarrhoea,  organic  heart  disease  and  enteritis — show  a  decided  excess 
of  deaths  among  Negroes. 


State 

Number 

State 

Number 

State 

Number 

State 

Number 

Georgia . 

952,161 

914,130 

100,630 

52,990 

California . 

3,246 

2,812 

Nevada . 

412 

Mississippi .... 

Missouri . 

Massachusetts. 

South  Dakota. 

405 

Alabama . 

751,679 

734,141 

West  Virginia. . 
Pennsylvania.  . 

48,793 

37,586 

Colorado . 

2,094 

1,359 

Montana . 

379 

South  Carolina. 

Washington .  .  . 

North  Dakota . 

311 

North  Carolina 

581,868 

553,029 

512,878 

511,185 

383,744 

322,582 

220,083 

155,025 

133,020 

Ohio . 

29,170 

24,333 

23,511 

20,024 

17,834 

16,705 

11,895 

5,187 

4,959 

Connecticut . . . 

1,216 

1,194 

1,068 

833 

Vermont . 

280 

Louisiana . 

New  Jersey. . . . 
Illinois . 

Wyoming . 

Oregon . 

228 

Virginia . 

Nebraska . 

Idaho . 

225 

Texas . 

New  Mexico. . . 

N.  Hampshire. 
Utah . 

208 

Arkansas . 

Kansas . 

Wisconsin . 

759 

185 

Tennessee . 

Florida . 

New  York . 

Indiana . 

Arizona . 

Minnesota . 

699 

566 

United  States . . 

7,138,534 

Kentucky . 

Maryland . 

Iowa . 

Michigan . 

Rhode  Island. . 
Maine . 

474 

439 

74 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


HOSPITALS  AND  PHYSICIANS 

N  1910  there  were  about  3,887  Negro 
physicians,  surgeons  and  dentists  and  2,433 
trained  nurses.  There  were  less  than  ten  fairly 
well  equipped  hospitals,  two  of  which  were 
outside  the  south;  and  about  ninety  other 
private  hospitals  having  poor  plants,  inade¬ 
quate  equipment  and  uncertain  support. 

Negro  physicians  are  usually  excluded  from  pub¬ 
lic  hospitals  and  one  state  medical  board  in 
recent  years  practically  excludes  them  from 
that  state. 

HEALTH  EDUCATION 

DUCATIONAL  propaganda  on  the  causes 
and  prevention  of  tuberculosis,  typhoid, 
hook-worm,  social  diseases  and  other  maladies 
have  been  promoted  by  private  agencies  and 
public  authorities.  Especially  during  the  past 
five  years  the  United  States  Public  Health 
Service  and  the  state,  county  and  city  boards  of 
health  have  made  efforts  to  educate  Negroes 
along  these  lines. 

Annual  “clean-up”  campaigns  have  been  con¬ 


ducted  in  city  and  country,  north  and  south, 
by  a  number  of  cooperating  organizations. 

HOMES  FOR  AGED  AND 
CHILDREN 

HERE  is  no  information  available  at  the 
present  time  about  the  few  orphans’  homes 
for  Negro  children  and  homes  for  Negro  aged. 

The  Interchurch  World  Movement  survey  is 
now  locating  and  studying  these  institutions 
and  their  needs. 

PROPOSED  POLICIES  AND 
PROGRAM 

0  MEET  these  needs  there  should  be 
provided  in  the  next  ten  years  3,000  ad¬ 
ditional  physicians  and  surgeons  and  500 
dentists;  fifteen  well-equipped  hospitals  and 
homes  geographically  distributed  and  health 
institutes  in  25,000  Sunday  schools,  together 
with  regular  health  campaigns  in  every  church. 

The  church  might  cooperate  more  fully  with 
public  hospitals,  boards  of  health  and  physicians 
and  with  private  health  agencies. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


75 


Recreation  Situation 


THERE  are  relatively  few  moving-picture  theatres  in  Negro  neighborhoods. 
A  number  of  these  use  questionable  pictures,  often  interspersed  with  vulgar 
vaudeville. 

Pool-rooms  run  for  gain  and  without  proper  supervision  are  simply  breeding  places 
for  gamblers.  Here  unwary  youth  with  their  natural  craving  for  pleasure  meet 
designing  exploiters  seeking  victims. 

Dance  halls  in  many  cities,  frequently  conducted  under  commercial  auspices,  are 
places  where  all  types  of  characters  mingle.  Often  innocent  youth  plays  without 
warning  with  tawdry  vice  and  designing  seducers. 


The  need  of  meeting  places  for  social  intercourse  and  of  places  with  equipment  for 
indoor  and  outdoor  games  under'  trained  supervision  is  universal. 

The  Negro’s  love  of  music  and  singing  has  been  largely  left  without  organization  and 
leadership — an  unused  power  for  religious  and  ethical  culture. 

National  holidays,  picnics,  bazaars  and  festivals  have  been  undirected. 


^PERCENTAGE  NEGRO  IN  THE  POPULATION,' 
fy  - -  BY  STATES:  1910  L 

f  ^  - - - jj  f 

f\~  /  V  f  1  v  /r  L 


IDAH o 


T~ 


Mont. 


UTAH 

Y/VtsS  '/////.  //y//  /‘ 


N.  DAK 


S-  DAK. 


NEBR. 


i  ^  p.. 

GEOGRAPHIC  DIVISIONS 

|  Less  than  1  per  cent. 

I  1  to  5  per  cent. 

I  5  to  12 %  per  cent. 

|  12  \  to  25  per  cent. 

I  25  to  37  ^  per  cent 
|  37  '/i  to  50  per  cent 

5^1  50  per  cent  and  over 

church  Wbr/d  Movement  of  North  America 


76 


Negro  Americans  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


COLOR  OR  RACE, 
NATIVITY  AND 
PARENTAGE, 
BY  STATES:  1910 

PER  CENT 


MAINE 
£  N.  H. 

|  VT. 

“  MASS. 
§  r.  i. 
CONN. 


0  10  20  30  40  50  60  70  80  90  100 


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VSSSSS* 

V//A  NATIVE  WHITE- NATIVE  PARENTAGE 


NATIVE  WHITE -FOREIGN  OR  MIXED  PARENTAGE 


FOREIGN  BORN  WHITE 
■  NEGRO  AND  ALL  OTHER 

Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


6.0.218 


CONSTRUCTIVE  FORCES 

THE  effort  of  the  churches  to  meet  the 
recreational  needs  of  the  Negro  people  has 
been  very  limited.  One  church  in  Massachu¬ 
setts,  two  in  New  York,  one  in  Philadelphia  and 
one  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  are  providing  large 
facilities  and  leadership. 

Twelve  cities  have  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association  buildings  equipped  for  athletics 
and  games.  The  Young  Women’s  Christian 
Association  has  eight  buildings  equipped  with 
gymnasia;  seventeen  city  associations  have 
buildings  equipped  for  leisure  activities  and 
eighteen  additional  recreation  centers. 

During  the  World  War  several  other  national 
agencies  opened  and  maintained  recreation 
centers  that  demonstrated  the  great  benefits 
which  flow  from  proper  supervision  of  recrea¬ 
tion.  A  few  cities  of  the  south  have  provided 
public  playgrounds  which  Negro  children  may 
enjoy. 


PROPOSED  POLICIES  AND 
PROGRAM 

EXPERIENCES  of  the  World  War  in  camps, 
towns  and  cities  frequented  by  soldiers 
showed  the  power  for  good  of  recreational  ac¬ 
tivities. 

Cooperative  organizations  of  the  churches  in 
179  cities  for  picnics,  festivals,  fairs,  celebra¬ 
tions  and  bazaars  will  bear  moral  and  spiritual 
fruitage. 

The  organization  of  the  musical  genius  of  the 
Negro  race  will  be  a  permanent  service.  Negro 
folk-songs  and  “spirituals”  are  the  natural 
basis  for  such  efforts. 


FORMER  Ambassador  Bryce  once 
said  that  the  American  Negro  in 
the  first  thirty  years  of  his  liberation 
made  a  greater  advance  than  was 
ever  made  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
in  a  similar  period  of  years. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


77 


Educational  Conditions 

THE  inadequate  provision  for  Negro  education  is  well-known.  In  the  south, 
where  nearly  all  schools  for  Negroes  are  located,  they  receive  only  about 
eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  total  expenditure  for  education,  although  they 
constitute  more  than  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  population.  In  1914,  expenditures  for 
Negro  education  from  private  funds  were  more  than  one-half  of  the  total  of  all 
expenditures  for  Negro  education. 


NEGRO  POPULATION 

PERCENTAGE  IN  SCHOOL  AND  NOT  IN  SCHOOL  OF  THE  NEGRO  AND  WHITE  POPULATION 
10  TO  14  YEARS  OF  AGE  BY  SECTIONS  AND  SOUTHERN  STATES:  1910 


PER  CENT,  NOT  IN  SCHOOL 


PER  CENT.  IN  SCHOOL 


. (. 


I  4—— - 


. . i:.  I.,- 


. 


Imaryland* 1 


t. .t . , '  /> 


rDIST.  OF  COLUMBIA1 


W . 


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(VIRGIN  IAl 


vmma 


[WEST  VIRGIN  I  Aj 


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[NORTH  CAROLINA' 


W//////////.V////////Y7/A-  .  ! . . } . 


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i 


Her  church  Hbr/d  Movement. of  North  America 


GD.I3I. 


UNI  TED  STATES  j . j . - 

I  I  T 

GRAND  DIVISIONS 


THE  SOUTH 

■rrrrrrrrritrAr7-ss//r? 


THE  NORTH  I  '  Him 
..... - - 


THE  WESTip 

■SZ/S777y7yr7/7 7///. 


SOUTH  ATLANTIC  DIVISION  | 


EAST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  DIVISION 


TENNESSEE*" 


ALABAMA" 


MISSISSIPPI 


WEST  SOUTH  CENTRAL  DIVISION 


LOUISIANA-ffW^ 


HOMA 


TEXAS? 


NEGRO 


white^^M 


78 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Large  numbers  of  children  and  youth  between  the  ages  of  six  and  twenty  years  are 
not  in  school.  Buildings,  equipment  and  the  pay  for  teachers  in  elementary  schools 
are  sorely  inadequate. 

This  diagram  also  shows  the  proportion  (in  1910)  of  white  and  Negro  children  from 
ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age  in  school  and  not  in  school. 

Secondary  education  to  meet  the  need  for  teachers  in  the  elementary  schools  as  well 
as  secondary  and  higher  training  for  those  youths  who  should  go  into  other  professions 
are  essential  for  Negro  progress  of  all  kinds. 

Probably  one-half  or  more  of  about  30,000  Negro  school  teachers  and  professors 
are  unprepared  for  their  task.  They  need  preparation  through  work  in  normal  school, 
college  and  university.  There  is  need  for  county  teacher-training  schools  of  secondary 
school  grade  in  at  least  800  of  the  counties  in  sixteen  southern  states  having  one- 
eighth  or  more  Negro  population.  These  schools  should  also  provide  adequate 
academic  and  agricultural  courses  of  high  school  grade  to  meet  country-life  needs. 

The  mission  boards  of  denominations  whose  membership  is  white  or  largely  white 
are  now  providing  about  four-fifths  of  the  support  for  the  higher  and  secondary 
institutions  for  Negro  youth  and  the  colored  denominations  about  one-fifth. 

The  pay  of  Negro  teachers  in  both  denominational  and  independent  higher  and 
secondary  schools  is  more  inadequate  than  that  in  the  white  schools. 


CONSTRUCTIVE  FORCES: 

HIGHER  INSTITUTIONS 

HE  most  liberal  enumeration  of  higher 
institutions  shows  that  for  over  ten  million 
Negro  Americans  there  is  not  more  than  one 
institution  which  has  the  equipment,  endow¬ 
ment,  students  and  teaching  force  required  by 
the  recent  standard  “efficient”  college  program 
adopted  by  the  Association  of  American  Col¬ 
leges. 

Lack  of  these  higher  institutions  for  Negro 
youth  makes  their  opportunities  for  thorough 
college  education  very  inadequate.  Not  more 
than  thirty-six  of  the  institutions  can  be  reck¬ 
oned  either  A1  in  the  second  grade  of  standard 
colleges;  or  A2  as  institutions  doing  both  col¬ 
lege  and  secondary  work;  or  A3  as  institutions 
offering  some  college  subject.  Only  two  insti¬ 
tutions  offer  full  curricula  in  medicine,  dentis¬ 
try  and  pharmacy,  and  only  one  has  a  full 
course  law  department. 


Probably  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  all  the 
colored  pupils  of  the  United  States  are  enrolled 
in  college  and  professional  schools. 

Estimated  total  valuation  of  the  property  of  all 
the  private  secondary  and  higher  institutions 
for  Negroes  is  less  than  thirty  million  dollars, 
with  a  total  annual  income  of  a  little  more  than 
three  million  dollars. 


PERCENTAGE  URBAN  AND  RURAL 
IN  THE  NEGRO  POPULATION, 

BY  SECTIONS:  1910,  1900  AND  1890 


90 

RURAL 

60  30 

PER  CENT. 

0 

URBAN 

30  60 

90 

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htercfiurtti  tort]  Movement  of  Nor/n  America _ 6.QI30 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


79 


It  is  estimated  that  the  higher  and  secondary 
institutions  for  whites  in  1914  had  endowment 
or  productive  funds  ( excluding  manual  training 
and  industrial  schools)  of  $413,943,427. 

The  endowment  or  productive  funds  of  Negro 
institutions  ( including  normal  and  industrial 
schools  in  1915)  was  estimated  at  $7,850,000. 
The  white  population  is  about  ten  times  as 
large  as  the  Negro  population  but  has  produc¬ 
tive  educational  funds  nearly  fifty-three  times 
as  large. 

Existing  institutions  for  the  training  of  teachers 
are  sorely  inadequate  to  meet  the  demands  of 
over  ten  million  Negro  Americans  who  in  1910 
had  29,727  teachers  and  professors.  Only  five 
states  and  three  cities  provide  normal  training 
schools  for  Negro  teachers. 

SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 

HERE  are  at  present  only  108  county 
training-schools  for  the  818  counties  where 
Negroes  made  up  one-eighth  or  more  of  the 


total  population  in  1910.  Only  a  few  of  these 
are  more  than  graded  elementary  schools. 
There  are  probably  not  more  than  seventy  pub¬ 
lic  high  schools  for  Negroes  in  the  towns  and 
cities  of  the  sixteen  southern  states.  Only  about 
forty-five  of  these  offer  four-year  courses.  The 
others  range  from  three-year  courses  downward. 

PROPOSED  POLICIES 
AND  PROGRAM 

HREE  great  policies  confront  those  who 
seek  to  strengthen  and  develop  strategic 
institutions  for  higher  education  adequate  to 
meet  the  need  of  the  Negro:  (1)  To  adjust  and 
increase  existing  educational  facilities  for  more 
than  ten  million  Negro  Americans;  (2)  To  im¬ 
prove  the  administrative  direction  and  the 
quality  of  the  teaching  of  these  institutions  so 
as  to  put  them  on  a  par  with  the  nation’s  best 
educational  standards;  (3)  To  bring  higher  in¬ 
stitutions  into  close  cooperation  with  the  ele¬ 
mentary  and  secondary  schools  supported  by 
public  funds  so  as  to  stimulate  the  extension 


Limit  of  Cotton  Production 


Selected  Plantation  Area 


SELECTED  PLANTATION  AREA,  BOUNDARIES  OF  COTTON  BEL  T, 
AND  COUNTIES  HAVING  50  PER  CENT  OR  MORE 
OF  NEGRO  POPULATION:  1910 


Counties  in  which  Negroes  form  more 
than  50  per  cent  of  the  Population  :  1910 


Inter  church  Ubrtd  Movement  oT  North  America 


aa  220 


80 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


and  improvement  of  these  public  schools 
through  which  alone  all  the  people  may  receive 
instruction. 

The  179  cities  which  had  2,500  or  more  Negroes 
in  1910,  each  need  a  well  equipped  high  school 
with  adequate  academic,  industrial  and  voca¬ 
tional  courses.  Summer  schools  and  training 
institutes  to  further  prepare  teachers  of  sec¬ 
ondary  and  elementary  schools  are  sorely 
needed. 

SECONDARY  SCHOOLS 

HE  chief  needs  are:  (1)  To  provide  ele¬ 
mentary  school  teachers;  (2)  educational 
facilities  for  those  unable  to  attend  college; 
(3)  preparatory  training  for  those  going  to  uni¬ 
versities  or  higher  institutions  of  learning. 

This  requires  now  at  least  300  high-grade  four- 
year  high  or  secondary  schools  with  adequate 
academic  and  vocational  courses. 

These  can  be  developed  from  the  substantial 
and  important  secondary  schools  which  now 
exist  under  denominational  boards  or  inde¬ 
pendent  boards  of  trustees.  At  least  200  of 
these  should  be  located  in  rural  sections  and 
provide  academic  and  agricultural  courses  to 
the  future  leaders  of  these  country  communities. 

The  building  of  this  secondary  school  system 
must  be  related  to  the  existing  elementary 
schools  in  the  south  and  to  the  public  school 
authorities  who  control  these  elementary  schools 
and  who  should  as  rapidly  as  possible  assume 
adequate  support  and  control  of  secondary 
schools. 

HIGHER  INSTITUTIONS 

OR  the  professional  leadership  of  more  than 
10,000,000  Negroes  there  should  be  pro¬ 
vided  real  university  and  college  facilities.  This 
is  essential  in  order  to  prepare  teachers  for  col¬ 
leges,  secondary  and  vocational  schools;  doc¬ 


tors,  ministers,  lawyers,  and  other  professional 
workers. 

In  1910  there  were  about  29,727  Negro  teachers, 
34,962  Negro  ministers,  3,409  physicians  and 
surgeons,  478  dentists  and  7,056  others  in  pro¬ 
fessional  occupations. 

Northern  white  universities  will  furnish  some 
of  these  leaders  but  the  immediate  future  calls 
for  university  facilities  with  medical,  dental  and 
religious  departments  for  8,000  students  within 
the  reach  of  the  bulk  of  the  Negro  population 
in  the  south  to  furnish  about  450  college  teach¬ 
ers,  about  350  medical  men  and  about  1,200 
ministers  a  year. 

Junior  and  senior  colleges  should  be  provided 
to  train  teachers  and  supervisory  officers  for 
secondary  schools  and  to  provide  preliminary 
training  for  doctors,  ministers  and  the  like. 

The  necessary  facilities  for  training  800  such 
leaders  per  year  for  the  next  two  years;  1,200 
yearly  during  the  following  three  years;  and 
4,000  to  5,000  each  succeeding  year  are  im¬ 
peratively  needed  as  a  conservative  minimum 
in  order  to  increase  the  supply  of  60,000  pro¬ 
fessional  people  now  at  work  and  to  replace 
poorly  prepared  leadership  with  one  equipped 
for  its  difficult  task. 

To  train  these  leaders  there  are  needed  approxi¬ 
mately:  (1)  Three  institutions  of  university 
grade  with  well  equipped  medical,  religious 
and  graduate  schools;  (2)  ten  institutions  of 
standard  college  grade;  (3)  twenty  institutions 
of  junior  college  grade. 

The  questions  of  content  of  curricula,  the  quali¬ 
fications  of  teachers  and  the  life  of  the  institu¬ 
tion  are  not  within  the  province  of  this  survey. 
The  selection  and  location  of  institutions  for  the 
development  of  these  different  grades  of  colleges 
must  be  determined  by  agreement  among  those 
charged  with  the  administration  of  the  schools 
and  funds. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


81 


Religious  Life 

THE  type  of  building  and  equipment  of  the  average  Negro  country  church 
usually  consists  of  an  unpainted  frame  structure  with  rough  benches,  a 
platform  and  pulpit  for  the  preacher.  Preaching  services  are  held  about 
once  or  twice  a  month. 

The  Sunday  school  in  the  rural  Negro  church  usually  is  a  summertime  activity  in 
no  way  adequate  in  program,  methods,  supervision  or  leadership  for  the  religious 
education  of  the  people. 

The  minister  is  usually  non-resident,  often  living  and  working  at  some  other  occupa¬ 
tion  in  a  nearby  city.  He  usually  comes  to  the  community  on  Saturday  night  or 
Sunday  morning  and  leaves  at  the  close  of  his  Sunday  labors.  He  is  generally  not 
equipped  with  adequate  knowledge  of  the  Bible,  of  church  history,  and  of  the  duties 
and  requirements  of  pastor  or  priest.  His  activity  is  usually  confined  to  preaching 
with  homely,  natural  eloquence  and  emotional  fervor.  Here  and  there  men  of 
character  and  training  have  gone  into  rural  work  as  resident  ministers.  The  effect  of 
their  work  has  demonstrated  the  need  of  home  mission  work  for  the  Negro  rural 
community. 

The  financial  resources  of  the  Negro  country  church  cannot  now  support  a  resident 
minister  of  this  type. 

Here  is  a  call  for  home  mission  boards  to  send  such  men  to  these  neglected  people. 

Trained  Negro  leaders  are  needed  as  business  managers.  The  financial  matters 
connected  with  a  large  growing  church  require  technical  knowledge  and  should  not 
devolve  upon  the  overtaxed  minister. 

Well  educated  ministers  trained  in  psychological  and  sociological  studies,  in  addition 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  religion,  are  needed.  Negro  newcomers  to 
cities  require  the  best  trained  minds  to  guide  them  in  ethics  and  religion.  The  people 
love  their  churches  and  are  enthusiastic  and  responsive;  but  the  churches  need  a 
complete  program  in  order  best  to  serve  the  people. 

The  Negro  has  demonstrated  his  ability,  under  experienced  and  trusted  leadership, 
to  develop  into  a  useful  and  productive  citizen.  But  he  needs  the  support  of  religion 
as  much  as,  if  not  more,  than  his  successful  white  neighbor,  to  steady  him  in  the 
day  of  prosperity. 


82 


Negro  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


CONSTRUCTIVE  FORCES: 

THE  CHURCHES 

There  are  two  general  groupings  of  Negro 
churches:  (1)  The  distinctly  Negro  denomina¬ 
tions,  those  consisting  exclusively  of  Negro 
church  and  members;  (2)  Negro  churches  in 
denominations  having  both  white  and  Negro 
members. 

In  1906,  according  to  the  United  States  Census, 
Negro  churches  had  35,160  church  edifices  and 
4,779  parsonages.  The  total  valuation  was 
estimated  at  $60,364,043  with  an  indebtedness 
of  $5,005,905. 

The  distinctly  Negro  denominations  held  86.8 
per  cent,  of  the  Negro  communicants  in  1890 
and  87  per  cent,  in  1906. 

THE  MINISTRY 

N  DISTINCTLY  Negro  denominations  there 
were  31,624  ministers  according  to  the  1906 
Census  and  34,962  in  1918  according  to  the 
Year  Book  of  the  Churches.  Ministers  were 
not  reported  separately  for  denominations  hav¬ 
ing  both  white  and  Negro  members. 


Due  allowance  should  be  made  in  the  above 
figures  because  of  inaccurate  returns. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 

HE  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
has  forty-five  city  associations  of  colored 
men;  10  of  them  in  southern  and  border  cities; 
15  additional  industrial  associations  connected 
with  industrial  plants;  7  international  secre¬ 
taries;  100  local  secretaries;  20,000  members 
and  twelve  standard-type  buildings  costing 
nearly  $2,000,000. 

The  Young  Women’s  Christian  Association  has 
forty-nine  Associations  and  four  affiliated  clubs 
of  colored  women;  twelve  national  workers  and 
eighty-five  local  workers,  and  a  membership  of 
23,683. 

PROPOSED  POLICIES  AND 
PROGRAM 

AMICABLE  adjustment  of  race  relations 
XV  on  the  basis  of  justice,  peace  and  good¬ 
will  is  an  acid  test  for  the  Christian  church. 
To  this  end  the  church  must  offer  a  full  meas- 


PERCENT  OF  ALL  LAND  IN  FARMS  OF  COLORED  FARMERS 
^OPERATED  BY  COLORED  OWNERS,  BY  STATES:  1910; 

SOUTHERN  STATES  ONLY 


[  V^20  to  30  per  cent 
]  30  to  40  per  cent 
The  heavy  fines 


g40  to  50  per  cent 

_ y  50  to  60  per  cent 

60  to  70  per  cent 
W  70  per  cent  and  over 
■)  show  geographic  divisions 


mierchurch  Htrti  Movement  or  North  America 


GO  22/ 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Negro  Americans 


83 


ure  of  practical  service  inspired  by  the  principles 
and  ideals  of  Jesus  Christ. 

RELIGIOUS  WORSHIP 

HE  highest  expression  of  both  individual 
and  group-life  of  Negroes  is  through 
their  churches/’  Their  churches  are  their  very 
life-blood  and  through  them  Negroes  have 
found  their  truest  outlet  for  self  expression. 
Whatever  will  help  develop  their  churches  and 
church  life  will  help  toward  racial  self-realiza¬ 
tion. 

There  should  be  provided  an  adequate  number 
of  new  church  buildings  in  congested  city 
centers  equipped  for  worship,  for  religious  in¬ 
struction,  and  for  community  service  in  city 
and  country;  remodeled  and  improved  church 
buildings  in  city  and  country;  model  parsonages 
as  demonstrations  of  what  homes  should  be; 
continuous  study  of  the  parish  and  all  its  needs; 
and  a  community  program  with  trained  workers 
and  supervision. 


PERCENTAGE  URBAN  AND  RURAL 
IN  THE  NEGRO  AND  WHITE 
POPULATION  ,  BY  SECTIONS:  1910 


Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America _ _ G.DI29 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

HE  imperative  demand  for  educated  minis¬ 
ters  and  other  educated  leaders  requires 
twelve  schools  of  religion  strategically  located 
in  connection  with  the  universities  and  colleges 
planned  above  (see  educational  program).  In 
addition  there  are  needed:  (1)  Ten  Bible  schools 
with  practical  courses  in  the  English  Bible 
built  upon  a  high  school  education  or  its  equiva¬ 


lent;  (2)  forty  summer  institutes  strategically 
distributed  throughout  the  United  States  on  a 
cooperative  denominational  basis  and  furnish¬ 
ing  to  men  now  in  the  ministry  instruction  in 
the  English  Bible,  practical  psychological, 
sociological  and  economic  subjects;  (3)  eighty 
rural  conferences  of  three  to  six  days’  duration 
at  suitable  seasons  throughout  the  sixteen 
southern  states  having  Negro  populations; 
(4)  similar  conferences  in  every  important  city 
center;  (5)  a  system  of  graded  Sunday  schools 
with  state,  district  and  county  supervision  and 
teacher  training  courses  in  secondary  and  higher 
institutions  and  in  churches. 


DENOMINATIONS  CONSISTING 
EXCLUSIVELY  OF  NEGROES 


Denominations 

U.  S. 
Census 
1906 

Year  Book 
of  Churches 
1918 

Baptist  bodies . 

2,311,172 

2,967,085 

Methodist  bodies. .  . 

869,710 

1,117,327 

Other  bodies . 

24,165 

28,023 

Total . 

3,205,047 

4,112,135 

NEGRO  MEMBERS  OF  DENOM¬ 
INATIONS  HAVING  WHITE 
AND  NEGRO  MEMBERS 


Denominations 

U.  S. 
Census 
1906 

Year  Book 
of  Churches 
1918 

Baptist  bodies . 

43,617 

Methodist  bodies..  . . 

312,421 

Not  reported 

Presbyterian  bodies. 

29,040 

separately  in 

Congregational . 

11,960 

Year  Book  of 

Protestant  Episcopal 

19,098 

Churches 

Other  bodies . 

23,409 

Total . 

439,545 

n  . 


1 


MIGRANT  GROUPS 


MIGRANT  GROUPS 


MUCH  of  the  world’s  work  is  casual.  Fully  1,500,000  men  in  this  country 
are  seasonal  workers,  traveling  from  place  to  place.  The  United  States 
Census  Report  for  1910  showed  that  in  the  preceding  year  170,000  more 
persons  were  employed  in  the  manufacturing  industries  of  New  York  state  in  January 
than  in  October.  Such  fluctuations  in  the  demand  for  labor  are  not  confined  to  one 
industry  or  one  season.  Occasionally,  as  in  the  winter  of  1914-15,  they  became  so 
great  as  to  demoralize  the  entire  labor  market.  But  this  situation  is  always  much 
more  aggravated  in  industries  which  are  seasonal  in  character. 

This  army  of  men  constantly  on  the  move  is  necessary  to  save  our  industries  from 
disaster.  It  is  an  army  composed  of  men  of  mixed  origin.  A  good  many  are  sons 
of  unsuccessful  farmers,  or  tenants  who  have  failed  to  make  good;  others  come  from 
the  city— this  is  especially  true  of  the  immigrants.  Others  are  skilled  mechanics  who 
have  degenerated  through  incompetency  or  vice. 

A  study  of  a  limited  number  of  these  migrants  indicates  that  perhaps  25  per  cent, 
are  subnormal  or  mentally  defective.  Of  40,000  seasonal  workers  studied  in  Cali¬ 
fornia,  about  90  per  cent,  proved  to  be  unskilled  and  only  10  per  cent,  were  married. 
Normal  family  life  for  men  of  this  sort  is  absolutely  impossible. 

The  migrant  follows  definite  paths  across  the  country.  The  cycle  in  the  middle  west 
begins  when  the  first  recruits  to  the  northern  Texas  harvest  come  from  the  southern 
oil  and  lumber  camps  and  more  especially  from  the  southern  farms,  where  a  lack  of 
midsummer  staple  crops  permits  an  incursion  into  these  harvest  fields  before  fall 
work  sets  in.  This  migrant  stream  slowly  moves  northward,  reinforced  continually 
by  “labor  vacationists” — factory  operatives — who  come  to  work  in  these  harvest 
fields  as  a  rich  man  goes  on  a  “loafing  vacation.”  Finally,  when  the  wheat  harvest 
of  Kansas  is  ripe  this  entire  army,  reinforced  by  every  available  recruit,  attacks  one 
of  the  country’s  biggest  jobs,  gathering  one-fourth  of  the  wheat  harvest  of  the  nation. 


NATURE’S  prodigality  is  necessarily  seasonal.  To  harvest  her  diversi¬ 
fied  and  scattered  bounty  requires  an  army  of  1,500,000  migrant 
workers.  This  army  is  unorganized,  unskilled,  uncared  for,  and  is  at  the 
mercy  of  the  radical  and  the  exploiter. 

But  the  army  itself  presents  a  moral  problem  of  the  first  magnitude  which 
the  church  must  help  to  solve. 


88 


Migrant  Groups :  HOME  MISSIONS  SURVEY 


On  the  Migrant  Worker’s  Trail 

WHEAT  production  is  a  great  staple  industry  in  the  United  States, 
north  of  Texas,  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina  and  in  the  Pacific 
Coast  states.  Over  most  of  this  area  it  is  raised  on  rather  small  fields 
and  as  a  single  feature  of  a  diversified  system  of  agriculture.  The  grain  belt,  on  the 
other  hand,  where  nearly  three-fifths  of  the  total  supply  is  produced,  is  a  great  empire 
stretching  from  northern  Texas  to  Canada.  Here  wheat  is  the  chief  product.  Over 
much  of  this  area  it  tends  to  exclude  all  other  money  crops. 

This  is  graphically  indicated  on  the  accompanying  map  and  by  the  table  of  wheat 
acreages  for  1918,  appearing  on  this  page. 


WINTER  WHEAT  REGION 
SEASONAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TOTAL  LABOR 
ON  AN 

800  ACRE  WHEAT  AND  SUMMER  FALLOW  FARM 
WALLA  WALLA,  WASHINGTON 


SPRING  WHEAT  REGION 
SEASONAL  DISTRIBUTION  OF  TOTAL  LABOR 

ON  A 

600  ACRE  GRAIN  FARM 
NORTH  DAKOTA 


/nterchurch  Wor/c/  Movement  of  A/oriP  dmer/ca 


10  20 

10  20 

10  20 

10  to 

10  20 

10  20 

K)  20 

10  20 

10  20 

FEB 

MAR 

APR 

MAY 

JUNE 

JULY 

AUG 

SEPT 

OCT 

GO  46 


After  the  wheat  harvest  the  demand  for  migratory  workers  is  greatly  lessened.  A 
small  number  of  the  workers  stay  for  the  threshing  in  areas  where  the  crops  have 
been  harvested.  Those  who  follow  through  the  harvesting  operations  as  they 
move  northward  have  to  compete  with  new  labor  forces  from  the  farms  of  the 
Northwest  and  Northeast  and  from  the  lumber-jacks  and  mine  workers  of  northern 
Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  Michigan.  Some  of  the  more  persistent  migrant  workers 
follow  the  harvesting  operations  far  into  Canada. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


89 


SUMMARY  OF  HARVESTING 
CONDITIONS 

HE  outstanding  economic  facts  and  con¬ 
siderations  about  harvesters  are  that  there 
are  a  great  number  and  that  there  is  a  great 


WHEAT  ACREAGES 

FOR  1918 

State 

Acreage 

Missouri . 

.  .  .  .  3,092,000 

Minnesota . 

.  . .  .  3,799,000 

Texas . 

.  .  .  .  892,000 

Oklahoma . 

.  .  .  .  2,611,000 

Kansas . 

.  .  .  .  7,248,000 

Nebraska . 

.  .  .  .  3,828,000 

South  Dakota . 

...  3,765,000 

North  Dakota . 

.  .  .  .  7,770,000 

Total . 

.  .  .  .33,005,000 

range  of  local  fluctuations  in  wages.  This  is 
due  to  the  fluctuations  in  the  supply  of  men. 

The  prevalent  labor  agreement  is  full  of  uncer¬ 
tainties  and  opportunities  for  misunderstand¬ 
ing. 

Harvest  work  is  sharply  competitive.  After  a 
very  short  season  of  maximum  demand  it  is 
extremely  perplexing  for  workers  to  judge  how 
long  to  follow  it  and  where  and  when  to  go. 

It  is  in  the  nature  of  harvest  work  that  there 
should  be  much  time  lost  from  weather  con¬ 
ditions,  from  waits  between  jobs  and  from  time 
consumed  in  traveling. 

MINING  AND  CONSTRUCTION 
CAMPS 

AS  THE  harvesters  demobilize,  one  stream 
X"\.of  men  turns  southwestward  and  seeks 
employment  in  mining  and  railroad  construc¬ 
tion  or  in  agricultural  work  in  the  sugar-beet 
fields  and  fruit  areas,  even  going  as  far  as  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

A  larger  number  work  their  way  south,  turning 
to  mining  and  lumbering  or  continuing  agri¬ 
cultural  work  as  corn  pickers. 

Thus  they  move  on  from  one  field  of  labor  to 
another — a  restless,  roving,  group  of  workers. 


FRUIT  INDUSTRY 
IN  THE  EAST 

HE  Atlantic  Coast  states  have  a  smaller 
agricultural  migration.  The  work  in  this 
region  is  almost  entirely  fruit-picking  and  truck¬ 
farming.  There  is  an  annual  movement  be¬ 
tween  the  Bahama  Islands  and  Florida,  and  a 
regular  influx  of  mountaineers  into  the  fruit 
harvest  belt  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains;  also 


THE  “BIG”  GRAIN  BELT 


THE  GRAIN  BELT  STATES 


WHEAT  AV.  REQUIREMENT  OF  WHEAT  AV.  REQUIREMENT  OF 

ACREAGE  1918  MIG  HARVESTERS  ACREAGE  1918  MIG.  HARVESTERS 

TEXAS  892.000  5.000  NEBRASKA  3. 828.000  10-15.000 

OKLAHOMA  2.61  1.000  15.000  SO.  DAKOTA  3. 765.000  15-20.000 

KANSAS  7.748.000  60-80.000  NO.  DAKOTA  7. 770.000  25-30.000 

MISSOURI  0092.000  -  MINNESOTA  3.990.000  - 

. _ WHEAT  ACREAGE  1909  *5.000  ACRES  •50000  ACRES _ _ 


an  appreciable  but  diminishing  annual  move¬ 
ment  of  Virginian  Negroes  into  the  farms  of 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  and  the  truck-farms 
of  Long  Island  and  Connecticut  where  they 
contribute  their  labor  to  the  big  task  of  feed¬ 
ing  our  cities’  thousands. 

The  most  important  of  the  seasonal  migrants 
on  the  Atlantic  Coast  are  those  from  large  cities, 
particularly  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  to  the 
berry  and  fruit  and  cannery  centers  of  Dela¬ 
ware,  Maryland  and  New  Jersey.  Here  the 
succession  of  crops  affords  intermittent  work 
over  a  period  of  four  months. 


90 


Migrant  Groups :  HOME  MISSIONS 


A  small  number  of  skilled  fruit  packers  start 
work  in  Florida  and  move  northward  with  the 
crop  to  New  Jersey.  The  main  migratory 
movement  in  the  East,  however,  takes  place  as 
a  series  of  migrations  within  states  which  have 
a  common  type  of  agriculture.  The  New 
Jersey  and  Hudson  Valley  orchards,  the  cannery 
and  truck  crops  of  Central  New  York,  the 
fruit  areas  bordering  on  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake 
Erie,  all  use  a  large  number  of  seasonal 
migrants. 

In  the  movement  of  these  peoples,  the  existence 
of  labor  camps  and  the  employment  of  women 
and  children  together  with  men,  present  dis¬ 
tinct  problems  which  are  quite  different  from 
those  of  the  wheat  harvest  fields  of  the  Middle 
West. 

PACIFIC  COAST  RACIAL 
PROBLEMS 

N  CALIFORNIA  the  agricultural  situation 
concerns  a  group  of  highly  specialized  local 
industries  requiring  an  enormous  amount  of 


hand  labor.  The  situation  has  been  acute  and 
the  problem  has  been  especially  complicated 
by  the  influx  of  Orientals  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
Racial  animosities  are  keen.  Both  white  and 
yellow  men  are  employed  in  these  occupations 
and  very  serious  situations  have  arisen  which 
are  in  some  cases  international  in  their  signifi¬ 
cance. 

SHEEP-SHEARERS  OF 
THE  ROCKIES 

THE  Rocky  Mountain  region  shows  perhaps 
the  most  romantic  example  of  seasonal 
labor  in  the  small  number  of  highly  expert 
sheep  shearers  who  follow  their  calling  up  and 
down  the  backbone  of  two  continents.  By 
adding  South  America  to  their  territory  they 
can  find  almost  continuous  work  covering  the 
entire  year.  These  men,  show  the  international 
nature  of  these  migrations. 

Special  cooperation  during  the  war  allowed 
seasonal  workers  to  be  interchanged  between 
the  United  States,  Mexico  and  Canada  by  a 
modification  of  immigration  regulations. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


91 


“HOMELESS,  VOTELESS,  JOBLESS” 

HE  largest  single  group  of  migrant  workers 
is  found  in  the  logging  camp  regions  of 
America.  These  men  are  not  generally  looked 
upon  as  migrants,  but  from  a  broad  point  of 
view  they  must  be  considered  in  this  class.  As 
the  President’s  Mediation  Commission  puts  it: 

Partly  the  rough  pioneer  character  of  the  indus¬ 
try,  but  largely  the  failure  to  create  a  healthy  social 
environment,  has  resulted  in  the  migratory,  drifting 
character  of  workers.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  those  in  the 
camps  are  described  by  one  of  the  wisest  students  of  the 
problem,  not  too  inaccurately,  as  “homeless,  voteless 
and  jobless.”  The  fact  is  that  about  90  per  cent,  of  them 
are  unmarried.  Their  work  is  most  intermittent,  the 
annual  labor  turnover  reaching  the  extraordinary  figure 
of  over  600  per  cent.  There  has  been  a  failure  to  make 
communities  of  these  camps.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered, 
then,  that  in  too  many  of  these  workers  the  instinct  of 
workmanship  is  impaired.  They  are,  or  rather,  have 
been  made,  disintegrating  forces  in  society. 

LOCATION  OF  LUMBER 
CAMPS 

LUMBER  operations  are  conducted  in  every 
j  state  in  the  union.  There  are  five  areas, 
however,  where  the  lumbering  industry  is  of 


prime  importance:  the  Great  Lakes  region,  the 
New  England  states,  especially  Maine,  the 
Gulf  region,  the  Appalachian  Mountains  and 
the  Pacific  Northwest. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  church  the 
Pacific  Northwest  is  by  far  the  most  important 
district.  In  other  regions  the  lumber  industry 
is  noticeably  on  the  decline.  Thus  it  is  esti¬ 
mated  that  in  the  South  85  per  cent,  of  the 
standing  timber  will  be  cut  within  eight  years. 

In  the  seven  states  of  Washington,  Oregon, 
California,  Idaho,  Montana,  New  Mexico  and 
Arizona  there  are  more  than  six  hundred  in¬ 
corporated  logging  companies.  Some  compa¬ 
nies  have  ten  “sides”  or  camps;  some  only  one. 
The  number  of  men  in  a  camp  varies  from  fifty 
to  one  thousand.  But  averaging  three  sides  to 
each  company  and  sixty  men  to  a  side,  it  is 
conservatively  estimated  that  there  are  109,000 
men  engaged  in  the  logging  industry  in  the 
Pacific  Northwest  alone. 

This  does  not  take  into  consideration  1,700  odd 
mills  and  innumerable  shingle  mills  located  in  the 
same  region  which  employ  over  120,000  men. 


BILLIONS  OF  BOARD  FEET 

1  [  Less  than  Vz 

E>>>vl  Vz  and  over 

1  »  » 

3  V/z  »  » 

2  »>  w 

4  tt  » 


ass 


fnferchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


92 


Migrant  Groups :  HOME  MISSIONS 


LOGGERS 

HE  logging  camps  furnish  a  highly  special¬ 
ized  problem.  While  related  to  more 
normal  communities  in  the  larger  mill  centers 
and  in  the  growing  agricultural  areas  which 
follow  the  cutting  of  the  forests,  the  logging 
camps  are  isolated  communities,  consisting 
largely  of  men  hidden  away  in  the  edge  of  the 
forests  and  moving  forward  into  them  at  the 
rate  of  about  three  miles  a  year.  The  big  mill 
centers  present  a  different  and  distinct  problem. 
These  camps  afford  a  specialized  problem  also 
from  the  fact  that  they  are  centers  of  an 
extremely  radical  social  sentiment  and  propa¬ 
ganda.  Loggers  are  almost  solidly  radical  and 
overwhelmingly  I.  W.  W.  in  convictions.  The 
men  are  indoctrinated  with  the  ideas  of  the 
“revolution.”  They  look  upon  the  ministers 
as  parasites  and  call  them  “swamp  angels.” 
They  hold  that  the  churches  are  capitalistic 
and  that  there  will  be  no  church  in  the  “revo¬ 
lution.”  They  are  uncompromising  in  their 
hostility  to  the  present  ownership  and  operation 
of  the  lumber  industry. 

WHY  RADICALISM  GROWS 

IN  THE  WOODS 

HE  present  radical  strife  in  the  lumber 
industry  has  its  roots  far  back.  It  is  partly 
a  matter  of  an  uncompromising  hostility  which 
nothing  but  taking  over  the  industry  will 
satisfy.  It  is  as  savage  in  its  attack  on  craft 
unionism  and  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  as  upon  the  companies  and  capitalistic 
management.  But  it  could  never  have  gained 
such  influence  except  for  grave  abuses. 

Before  the  war  the  relations  between  the 
men  and  the  companies  were  acutely  strained. 
The  companies  were  ruling  turbulent  men  with 
an  iron  hand.  The  industry  was  on  a  ten-hour 
basis,  too  long  a  stretch  of  work  in  the  woods. 
The  bunk  houses  were  often  unfit  for  human 
habitation.  Wages  were  unsatisfactory  and 
there  was  too  much  black-listing  and  locking 
out  in  addition  to  seasons  of  unemployment. 
The  men  were  not  allowed  the  slightest  right 
to  organize.  The  policy  of  the  companies  was 
to  employ  unmarried  men  and  to  encourage  a 
migratory  body  of  labor.  Unfortunate  abuses 
by  employment  agencies  aggravated  the  situa¬ 


tion  before  the  state  took  the  agencies  over. 
The  worst  of  these  abuses  have  now  been  cor¬ 
rected,  and  except  for  the  ban  on  organization 
there  is  little  about  which  labor  has  to  complain. 
The  men  are  led  to  believe  by  I.  W.  W.  propa¬ 
ganda  that  grave  wrongs  are  connected  with 
the  holding  of  big  areas  of  forest  land.  They 
resent  the  fact  that  land  which  costs  below  $10 
an  acre  is  cut  off  from  settlement  and  then  held 
for  settlers  at  $30  an  acre.  They  have  grown 
so  bitter  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  be 
just.  Their  experience  with  the  courts,  law¬ 
makers  and  police  authorities  often  tends  to 
make  them  lose  confidence  in  orderly  procedure 
and  to  turn  to  syndicalism  and  sabotage. 

CANNERY  WORKERS 

N  THE  fruit-and-vegetable  cannery  in¬ 
dustry  the  problem  is  more  one  of  concen¬ 
tration  than  of  geographical  distribution.  In 
the  eastern  states  the  chief  crops  involved  are 
beans,  peas,  corn,  tomatoes,  cantaloupes,  water¬ 
melons,  apples,  peaches,  grapes,  strawberries 
and  bush  fruits.  These  crops  are  raised  very 
widely  throughout  the  country  but  their  chief 
concentration  occurs  along  either  side  of 
Chesapeake  Bay,  the  southern  two-thirds  of 
Delaware,  the  southern  half  of  New  Jersey, 
three  or  four  counties  in  the  Hudson  River 
Valley  and  the  New  York  counties  bordering  on 
Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  estimate  the  number  of 
migrant  workers  required  in  this  field.  Careful 
inquiries  from  growers  and  agricultural  agents 
in  typical  counties,  together  with  the  estimates 
ventured  by  the  colleges  and  the  Department 
of  Labor  warrant  a  series  of  guesses  as  follows: 

New  York . .  14,000 

New  Jersey .  3,500 

Maryland .  3,600 

Delaware .  2,350 

This  means  that  a  total  of  more  than  22,000 
migrants  are  required  to  harvest  the  fruit  and 
cannery  crops  of  the  eastern  states.  These 
estimates  are  for  years  of  average  crop  yield 
but  there  are  great  fluctuations  in  the  demand 
from  year  to  year.  In  1919,  for  example,  the 
short  tomato  crop  in  Maryland  and  the  small 
apple  crop  in  New  York  greatly  reduced  the 
average  demand  for  imported  transient  labor. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


93 


CONGESTION  AND 
BAD  SANITATION 

HE  characteristic  problem  which  the  work¬ 
ing  conditions  of  the  cannery  group  adds 
to  the  problems  of  work  and  pay  found  in  the 
harvesting  group  is  the  very  acute  problem  of 
housing,  sanitation  and  morals.  The  housing 
of  agricultural  labor  under  any  circumstances 


TOTAL  VEGETABLES 

(EXCEPT  POTATOES .  SWEET  POTATOES  .  AND  YAMS  1909) 
ACREAGE 


EACH  DOT  REPRESENTS  500  ACRES 

tnterchdrch  World  Movement  of  North  America 


and  the  moral  effect  of  its  working  conditions 
upon  itself  and  upon  the  farm  families  and  com¬ 
munities  with  which  it  is  in  contact  are  very 
urgent  problems.  When  the  ordinary  hired 
man  goes  to  the  average  farm,  singly  or  in 
groups  of  two  or  three,  he  simply  shares  the 
fortunes  of  the  farmer’s  own  family.  When 
the  number  of  workers  is  too  large  to  share 
the  farmer’s  home,  the  labor  camp  comes  into 
existence.  When  the  laborer  cannot  share  the 
fortunes  of  the  farmer’s  family,  the  owner  of 
the  farm  must  devise  some  form  of  temporary 
housing  to  care  for  these  migrants.  In  New 
York  state  alone  about  five  hundred  fruit  and 
vegetable  pickers’  camps  are  required,  in  an 
average  year,  to  house  the  seasonal  laborers. 


TYPES  OF  HOUSES 
IN  FIELDS 

THE  majority  of  fruit  pickers’  camps  are 
simply  existing  outbuildings  temporarily 
devoted  to  human  habitation.  Conditions  in 
such  quarters  vary  greatly.  A  large  fruit 
grower  frequently  has  a  well-built  bunk  house 
near  his  residence,  the  second  story  of  which 
will  house  two  or  three  men  per  room,  the 
first  floor  being  used  for  a  dining  room  and 
kitchen.  Where  immigrant  family  labor  is 
used,  one  may  find  a  long  two-story  tenement 
in  the  midst  of  an  orchard  housing  an  indeter¬ 
minate  number  of  families;  there  is  no  logical 
separation  of  living  quarters;  no  provision  for 
individual  privacy  or  domestic  economy.  An¬ 
other  frequent  type  is  the  long  one-story  bunk- 
house,  a  shack  in  which  every  room  opens 
directly  out-of-doors.  At  worst  a  number  of 
families  may  be  housed  in  a  barn  loft  without 
any  partitions  whatever  dividing  family  sleep¬ 
ing  quarters. 

Men,  women  and  children,  young  people  and 
adults,  the  married  and  the  unmarried  alike 
are  compelled  to  live  in  this  promiscuous 
manner. 

EFFECT  OF  THE  WAR  ON 
MIGRANT  LABOR 

A  LL  studies  based  upon  migratory  labor  as 
JL\.  it  existed  before  the  war  are  now  entirely 
unsatisfactory  and  are  so  accounted  by  the 
most  competent  authorities.  The  last  three  or 
four  years  have  marked  the  elevation  of  the 
entire  migratory  class  and  the  practical  elimina¬ 
tion  of  the  hobo.  This  is  realized  by  all  who 
stand  near  to  the  problem  but  it  is  none  the 
less  a  stupendous  surprise  to  them.  What  had 
seemed  permanent  and  inevitable  has  proved 
to  be  quite  subject  to  change  with  changed 
conditions. 

Investigation  proves  that  something  very 
radical  has  happened  in  all  of  the  chief  haunts 
of  the  migratory  worker.  In  Kansas  City, 
Sioux  City,  Chicago  and  Minneapolis  the  same 
story  is  heard:  the  migratory  worker  does  not 
do  the  things  he  used  to  do,  does  not  live  as  he 
used  to  live,  does  not  make  the  same  demands 
upon  agencies  which  tried  to  help  him. 


94 


Migrant  Groups :  HOME  MISSIONS 


What  has  happened  is  symbolized  by  the  pass¬ 
ing  of  the  “Bowery  Bread  Line”  in  New  York 
City.  In  the  well  equipped  “Helping  Hand” 
building  in  Kansas  City,  most  of  the  dormitories 
which  used  to  be  crowded  with  homeless  men 
are  now  closed;  many  of  the  cheap  lodging 
houses  formerly  inhabited  by  wandering  men 
are  abandoned. 

In  the  Salvation  Army  Industrial  Homes,  in 
city  after  city,  will  be  found  only  a  relatively 
few  old  and  physically  decrepit  men.  The  de¬ 
mand  for  free  meals  and  lodging  for  the  migrant 
class  has  practically  ceased.  A  typical  state¬ 
ment  of  the  case  from  a  local  standpoint  is 
found  in  the  1918  report  of  the  Lincoln  Welfare 
Society : 

“In  Lincoln,  the  non-resident  single  men  applying  for 
aid  to  the  society  in  1915  were  1,756;  in  1917,  437; 
and  in  1918,  136.” 

This  cannot  mean  that  there  has  been  any 
reduction  in  the  demand  for  seasonal  labor;  but 
the  jobs  have  been  so  numerous  and  close  to¬ 
gether  that  the  whole  begging  and  stealing 
element  in  the  migratory  class  has  disappeared 
together  with  many  of  the  institutions  and 
activities  which  its  presence  necessitated. 

BETTER  ECONOMIC 
CONDITIONS 

HIS  situation  seems  to  reveal  the  funda¬ 
mentally  economic  character  of  the  prob¬ 
lem.  First  of  all,  four  or  five  years  of  steady 
work  at  good  wages  has  elevated  the  migrant 
class.  Coincident  with  this  has  come  the 
development  of  social  agencies  and  reforms, 
such  as  the  employment  service,  housing  and 
sanitary  improvements  and  prohibition.  Social 
pressure  upward  and  the  demand  to  “work  or 
fight”  both  had  an  important  influence.  It  is 
an  open  question,  however,  whether  the  most 
potent  factor  of  all  has  not  been  the  new 
motive  for  better  living  which  has  been  fur¬ 
nished  to  the  migrant.  He  has  doubted,  and 
often  with  reason,  whether  society  had  any 
decent  place  for  him  or  any  serious  demand  for 
his  services.  During  the  war  he  learned  that 
every  man  was  greatly  needed.  Even  the  ' 
peremptory  “work  or  fight”  order  made  him 
realize  that  he  really  counted  in  the  world. 
Unquestionably  the  migrant  has  shown  a  full 


measure  of  the  spirit  of  patriotism.  The  breast 
of  many  a  harvest  hand  was  spangled  with 
Liberty  Loan  and  Red  Cross  buttons  and  many 
went  into  the  harvest  work  with  a  definite 
consciousness  that  they  were  serving  the  coun¬ 
try  in  a  time  of  need.  This  has  given  the 
migrant  not  only  a  new  individual  motive  but 
has  put  a  new  motive  into  the  class  as  such,  and 
a  new  capacity — call  it  class  loyalty.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  American  migrant  has  dis¬ 
covered  a  new  capacity  for  social  organization. 

For  many  years  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  has  attempted  with  very  small  success 
to  ally  transient  workers  with  organized  labor. 
There  was  no  cohesion  in  the  group;  its  or¬ 
ganization  fell  apart'  like  grains  of  sand.  The 
“Hotels  de  Gink”  which  were  organized  and 
managed  by  migrants  in  New  York  City, 
Seattle  and  elsewhere  during  the  winter  of 
1914  were  interesting  and  showed  a  certain 
limited  capacity  for  practical  organization. 
In  Seattle  one  migratory  group  took  contracts 
for  clearing  land  and  employed  its  own  mem¬ 
bers  in  order  to  tide  them  over  the  period  of 
unemployment. 

THE  I.  W.  W. 

T  IS  in  the  International  Workers  of  the 
World,  however,  that  migrants  and  un¬ 
skilled  laborers  have  shown  the  greatest  ability, 
persistence  and  capacity  for  organization  which 
this  class  has  ever  developed  in  America.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  social  doctrines  pro¬ 
fessed  by  this  movement  are  abhorrent  to 
American  ideals  and  inimical  to  American  in¬ 
stitutions,  the  degree  of  success  which  the 
I.  W.  W.  has  had  in  marshalling  and  holding 
the  allegiance  of  a  group  which  has  always 
before  been  below  the  level  of  organization  is 
an  important  social  phenomenon. 

New  group  organization  is  a  beginning  of  educa¬ 
tion  in  social  action.  What  the  I.  W.  W.  can 
do,  some  other  movement  with  better  ideals 
can  do  and  to  better  purpose. 

SUMMARIZING  THE 
POSSIBILITIES 

THE  migrant  labor  group  has  come  upon  a 
new  level  of  possibilities  as  a  result  of  the 
war.  Plenty  of  work  at  good  wages  has  enabled 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


95 


it  to  reach  a  better  standard  of  living.  Insti¬ 
tutional  and  social  reform  have  helped  it  hold 
it.  The  pressure  of  society  and  the  demand  “to 
work  or  fight”  has  constituted  an  encourage¬ 
ment  to  the  migrant,  assuring  him  that  he  has 
some  value  to  society  and  arousing  him  to  real 
patriotism.  It  has  also  developed  in  him  class 
loyalty  and  some  capacity  for  organization. 

DANGER  OF  REACTION 

HESE  are  real  and  striking  gains  but  they 
may  easily  be  lost  if  the  process  which 
helped  to  create  them  is  reversed.  There  is  a 
vast  permanent  demand  for  seasonal  labor. 
Such  labor  at  best  yields  a  very  narrow  margin 
of  profit.  It  is  difficult  and  for  many  it  is 
impossible  to  find  continuous  seasonal  work. 
The  experience  through  which  the  migrant 
must  go  creates  a  serious  inclination  in  him  to 
acquire  the  permanent  habit  of  seasonal  labor. 
Most  labor  experts  expect  a  return  to  hobo 
conditions.  It  is  most  important,  therefore,  to 
inquire  whether  at  least  some  of  the  gains  of 
the  immediate  past  cannot  be  kept.  Is  it 
necessary  or  inevitable  for  the  migrant  labor 
class  to  slump  back  into  previous  conditions? 

Already  there  are  signs  which  point  to  the  fact 
that  the  migrant’s  war  status  is  declining. 
With  the  end  of  the  war  federal  emergency 
funds  which  had  supported  the  employment 
service  were  no  longer  available  and  it  had  its 
1919  work  to  do  with  greatly  reduced  forces 
and  largely  upon  the  basis  of  local  support. 

The  Kenyon-Nolan  bill  was  prepared  to  per¬ 
petuate  the  service  in  something  like  its  war¬ 
time  scope  but  the  previous  Congress  adjourned 
when  the  measure  was  still  in  committee.  The 
result  has  been  that  outside  of  Washington  the 
federal  employment  offices  have  had  to  go 
out  of  existence.  According  to  those  in  a 
position  to  know,  this  bill  will  never  be  passed 
by  the  existing  Congress. 

The  difficulties  of  supplying  labor  to  meet  a 
demand  so  fluctuating  both  as  to  time  and 
numbers  are  obvious.  Before  the  United  States 
employment  service  was  established  the  entire 
process  of  labor  distribution  was  very  inade¬ 
quate  and  inaccurate.  Labor  was  misdirected 
as  often  as  directed.  The  result  was  delay, 


discouragement,  ill-health,  bitter  feeling  and, 
worst  of  all,  the  fixing  of  the  habit  of  casual 
work  in  a  large  number  of  workers. 

EXPLOITATION  OF  THE  MIGRANT 

F  SOCIETY  has  reason  to  fear  the  migrant, 
he  certainly  has  greater  reason  to  fear 
society.  As  a  transient,  without  the  backing 
of  fixed  home  and  community  or  of  a  well-knit 
organization,  it  is  hard  for  him  to  protect  him¬ 
self.  Every  agency  which  has  anything  to  do 
with  him  tends  to  exploit  him.  The  farmer, 
the  private  employment  agencies,  the  railroads, 
the  local  officials  and  police  tend  to  fall  into  an 
anti-social  attitude  towards  him.  The  un¬ 
scrupulous  employer  uses  the  seasonal  worker 
as  a  strike-breaker  but  with  no  intention  of 
incorporating  him  permanently  in  his  industry. 
The  ward  politician  buys  his  vote  at  election 
for  partisan  ends.  Thus  society  deals  with  him. 

Besides,  there  are  a  hoard  of  purely  parasitic 
forces  which  prey  on  him.  Drinking,  gambling 
and  prostitution  are  the  forms  of  amusement 
in  the  lodging-house  districts  which  he  is  com¬ 
pelled  to  frequent.  Prohibition  and  a  general 
clean-up  of  the  cities  have  greatly  bettered 
living  conditions,  but  a  large  proportion  of 
seasonal  laborers  are  soon  relieved  of  their 
savings  as  soon  as  they  reach  the  city.  Besides, 
gamblers  and  hold-up  men  follow  the  harvest 
work  systematically  and  prey  upon  these  work¬ 
ers.  Local  news  items  in  the  press  of  the  wheat 
belt  have  shown  conclusively  the  presence  of 
such  criminals.  These  forces  unite  to  pull  down 
men  already  demoralized  by  the  conditions 
under  which  they  are  compelled  to  live. 

THE  DRIFT  TO  THE  CITY 

HE  majority  of  casual  laborers  drift  into 
our  great  cities  during  the  winter  months; 
flood  our  cheap  lodging  houses,  and  help  to 
swell  the  long  lines  outside  the  rescue  missions 
which  give  free  meals  to  these  unfortunates. 
The  real  reason  for  this  is  the  fact  that  there 
is  not  enough  work  to  go  round  in  the  winter 
time.  After  a  man  becomes  accustomed  to 
temporary  employment  he  may  refuse  steady 
work,  or  any  job  at  all  for  that  matter.  Usu¬ 
ally,  however,  he  starts  such  a  life  through 
necessity  and  not  through  choice. 


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The  Migrant  an  Economic  Problem 

THE  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations  reporting  on  migrant  labor  in  1916 
stated  that  there  are  several  million  migrant  workers  in  the  United  States 
even  in  the  best  of  times  and  that  the  number  is  increasing;  that  if  all  men 
wanted  to  work  all  the  time,  very  large  numbers  would  be  idle  part  of  the  time  on 
account  of  the  inequality  of  seasonal  demands;  that  migrant  labor  tends  to  produce 
a  habit  and  a  type  of  man  unfavorable  to  steady  employment;  and  that  the  habitual 
migrant  is  ruined  economically  and  degraded  morally. 

The  labor  market,  this  report  points  out,  is  unorganized,  the  migrant  movement  is 
controlled  largely  by  rumor,  and  the  search  for  work  is  practically  undirected. 

Likewise  the  local  control  of  the  migrant  situation  is  inadequate  because  seasonal 
labor  is  interstate  and  even  international.  It  affects  vast  industries  and  often  involves 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  workers  at  a  time  who  travel  over  great  distances.  The 
problem,  therefore,  is  of  fundamental  national  importance  since  our  more  basic 
industries  depend  on  labor  of  this  character. 

We  have  already  noted  that  living  conditions  of  migrant  labor  are  generally  very  bad; 
that  labor  camps  are  characteristically  unsanitary  and  both  physically  and  morally 

degrading;  while  the  lodging  houses  in  the  city  haunts  of  migrant  workers  have  been 
no  better. 

The  problem  of  adequate  winter  employment  for  seasonal  labor  is  still  not  remedied 
and  the  congregation  in  city  resorts  of  thousands  of  unemployed  migrants  at  this 
season  is  burdensome  for  the  municipalities.  There  is  great  need  to  perfect  the 
social  and  philanthropic  agencies  which  must  mitigate  the  situation. 

The  recommendation  submitted  by  the  Commission  included  the  development  of 
employment  agencies  on  a  national  basis  such  as  actually  took  place  during  the  war; 
legislation  providing  for  cheap  railroad  fares  for  workers  traveling  under  the  direction 
of  the  public  employment  service;  establishment  of  workingmen’s  hotels  in  all  large 
cities  and  suitable  accommodations  for  transients  of  this  class  elsewhere;  and  finally 
the  establishment  of  tramp  colonies  to  retrain  and  re-educate  such  habitual  vagrants 
as  can  be  made  safe  for  return  to  society,  and  to  keep  the  permanently  unfit  from 
being  a  burden  and  menace  to  others  by  permanent  aggregation. 

Outside  of  its  efforts  in  the  cities,  the  only  large  piece  of  work  which  the  church  is 
doing  for  the  migrant  groups  is  in  the  lumber  camps. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


97 


ECONOMIC  PLANS  OUTLINED 

AN  INVESTIGATION  by  the  Interchurch 
^  World  Movement  brought  out  the  follow¬ 
ing  points  in  the  field  of  economic  reorganiza¬ 
tion  :  The  evils  of  the  migratory  labor  situation 
might  be  lessened  by  a  reduction  of  the  demand 
for  this  type  of  labor.  Such  a  reduction  in  the 
grain  harvest  may  come  through  a  further  use 
of  labor-saving  machines,  through  crop  diversi¬ 
fication,  which  in  the  grain  belt  would  require 
more  men  throughout  the  year  and  less  extra 
help  during  the  harvest,  and  through  the  intro¬ 
duction  of  local  industries  which  might  even  up 
the  seasonal  labor  in  a  given  locality  and  reduce 
the  necessity  of  importing  short-time  harvest 
laborers. 

But  none  of  these  possibilities  promise  any  great 
reduction  in  the  total  demand  for  seasonal  labor 
within  the  near  future. 

SEQUENTIAL  EMPLOYMENT 

HE  great  economic  need,  therefore,  is  to 
make  the  best  of  the  present  situation  and 
devise  the  most  profitable  use  of  seasonal 
workers.  The  establishment  of  national  se¬ 
quences  of  seasonal  work  would  lead  the  worker 
from  one  job  to  another  with  the  least  possible 
loss  of  time. 

Moreover  the  organization  of  seasonal  laborers 
is  essential  so  that  they  can  influence  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  their  own  employment  and  best 
secure  the  advantages  of  collective  bargaining 
and  standardized  conditions  of  employment. 

VOCATIONAL  GUIDANCE 

NASMUCH  as  the  harvest  army  includes  a 
very  large  number  of  young  men  or  others 
who  are  definitely  seeking  to  improve  their 
conditions,  with  fair  hope  of  succeeding,  it  is 
highly  important  that  vocational  guidance  be 
extended  to  the  workers.  About  one-third  of 
them  report  themselves  as  farmers  and  another 
third  as  laborers.  On  the  agricultural  side  such 
guidance  should  hold  before  young  men  the 
opportunities  for  agricultural  education  and 
should  present  to  all  who  are  seeking  a  perma¬ 
nent  place  in  agriculture  the  opportunity  of 
securing  a  farm  and  working  into  farm  owner¬ 
ship  and  stable  citizenship. 


One  of  the  outstanding  results  of  the  migratory 
movement  is  that  it  is  now  hard  to  get  into 
permanent  agricultural  employment,  and  the 
nation  ought  to  devise  some  deliberate  means  of 
assisting  its  people  thereto. 

TEMPORARY  BRIDGES 

ATHER  than  to  suffer  the  burdens  of 
inevitable  winter  unemployment  to  be 
visited  on  a  large  number  of  seasonal  workers 
and  of  general  unemployment  in  times  of  indus¬ 
trial  depression,  it  is  at  least  fair  to  question 
whether  society  would  not  be  wiser  to  devise 
an  artificial  demand  for  labor  at  such  times 
through  the  undertaking  of  such  public  works 
as  the  construction  of  national  highways,  the 
reclamation  of  agricultural  lands,  or  important 
civic  improvements. 

The  risk  of  degradation  through  unemployment 
is  certainly  too  heavy  for  the  individual  to 
carry  alone.  It  might  well  be  shared  by  society 
through  some  form  of  unemployment  insurance. 

LEGISLATIVE 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

HE  legislative  and  administrative  measures 
for  the  amelioration  of  the  migrant  situa¬ 
tion  as  seen  in  the  grain  harvest  ought  to  in¬ 
clude  the  passage  of  a  bill  for  legally  establish¬ 
ing  and  perpetuating  the  Employment  Service, 
a  general  revision  of  the  vagrancy  laws  in  the 
light  of  established  facts  so  that  the  legal  op¬ 
pression  of  the  migrant  worker  would  cease, 
and  further  legislation  perfecting  all  machinery 
for  protecting  common  labor  from  fraud  and 
injustice. 

Moreover  there  should  be  required  liberal  ex¬ 
tensions  of  sanitary  law,  both  of  general  sani¬ 
tation  and  of  building  requirements. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  necessary  to  substitute  home 
life  for  hobo  life.  This  means  making  men 
steady  through  steady  employment.  In  order 
to  accomplish  this  the  employer  and  the  worker 
must  learn  to  shake  hands  rather  than  fists. 

We  should  substitute  constructive  Christianity 
for  “red”  radicalism  on  the  one  hand  and  rank 
reactionism  on  the  other. 

The  issue  is  Christ  or  chaos. 


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Migrant  Groups  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Forces  at  Work 

IN  THIS  entire  field  the  religious  forces  are  scattered  and  handicapped.  From 
any  statesman-like  viewpoint  it  may  be  said  to  be  an  untouched  field.  The 
chur  ch  has  never  attempted  to  deal  adequately  with  the  problem  of  labor 
migration.  There  have  been  certain  notable  exceptions.  There  are  rescue  missions 
which  have  been  wonderfully  successful  in  dealing  with  the  men  of  this  class,  a 
striking  example  of  which  is  the  Union  City  Mission  in  Minneapolis.  The  club 
operated  by  this  organization  is  conducted  on  as  high  a  level  as  those  run  for  soldiers 
during  the  war.  The  lodging  and  rooming  accommodations  are  beyond  reproach. 
Morgan  Memorial  in  Boston  is  another  model  mission.  This  institution  under  the 
direction  of  E.  J.  Helms  provides  for  all  of  the  needs— physical,  mental  and  moral— 
of  the  men  of  this  class.  Missions  of  this  type,  however,  are  very  exceptional.  The 
majority  are  characteristically  under-manned  and  inadequately  equipped.  Many 
are  painfully  lacking  in  sanitary  equipment. 

The  worst  feature  is  the  lack  of  Christian  cooperation  between  the  missions.  Mission 
competes  with  mission.  The  result  is  a  wonderful  opportunity  for  the  “panhandler,” 
who  is  able  to  make  the  rounds”  as  he  calls  it.  He  goes  from  one  mission  to  another 
getting  aid  from  each.  As  there  is  no  cooperation  between  them  there  is  no  possibility 
for  one  mission  to  know  what  the  other  organizations  are  doing. 

Another  serious  defect  in  the  present  system  is  that  in  many  cases  there  is  no  church 
supervision  of  these  missions.  A  few  are  run  by  certain  denominations  and  an  even 

larger  number  subsidized  by  them,  but  on  the  whole  the  majority  are  free-lance 
organizations. 

The  result  is  that  they  are  narrow  in  their  scope  and  very  inadequate  in  their  service, 
partly  due  to  lack  of  funds.  What  is  needed  is  an  organization  to  get  behind  these 
competing  enterprises  and  bring  order  out  of  chaos. 

The  advantage  of  united  action  is  demonstrated  by  the  efficiency  of  the  Salvation 
Army.  No  single  agency  working  with  vagrants  in  our  cities  is  as  well  known  or  as 
effective  as  the  Army.  It  frequently  follows  the  migrant  into  the  small  centers  where 
it  is  practically  the  only  philanthropic  agency  which  pays  any  attention  to  him. 
Its  methods  may  not  approve  themselves  entirely  to  other  philanthropic  societies 
or  to  organized  religion  but  it  has  done  better  than  any  other  agency,  largely  because 
it  has  been  nationally  organized.  The  same  sort  of  service  with  new  emphasis  and 
new  social  vision  would  revolutionize  the  vagrancy  problem  in  our  cities. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  Migrant  Groups 


99 


A  TYPICAL  OPPORTUNITY 

HE  forces  involved  are  entirely  inadequate. 
Were  each  of  the  lumber  camp  pastors 
(employed  by  the  denominations)  to  visit  three 
camps  and  mills  a  week  in  the  Pacific  North¬ 
west  alone,  they  would  not  be  able  to  make  the 
rounds  once  in  a  year. 

The  inadequacy  of  the  church’s  approach  is 
illustrated  by  the  conditions  in  Grays  Harbor 
County,  Washington.  In  this  county,  which  is 
approximately  sixty  miles  long  by  twenty  miles 
wide,  there  are  about  45,000  people.  Of  this 
number,  only  3,000  are  members  of  any  church 
and  yet  there  are  44  churches  ministering  to 
these  people.  In  the  county  there  are  64  log¬ 
ging  camps,  employing  5,000  men,  located  in 
the  midst  of  primeval  forests  far  from  social, 
moral  and  religious  influences.  Of  the  64  log¬ 
ging  camps  in  the  county,  56  are  without 
religious  ministrations  of  any  sort.  There  are 
five  hundred  children  alone  so  isolated  that  they 
receive  no  religious  or  educational  advantages. 


A  TYPICAL  FAILURE 

HESE  conditions  cannot  be  blamed  on  the 
temporary  nature  of  the  logging  industry. 
One  of  the  townships  lying  in  the  heart  of  this 
county  is  the  most  heavily  timbered  piece  of 
land  in  the  world,  containing  enough  timber  to 
build  a  board  walk  one  hundred  feet  wide 
around  the  world. 

This  community  will  be  permanent  for  genera¬ 
tions  to  come.  The  possibilities  for  service  in 
a  lumber  county  like  Grays  Harbor  are  limit¬ 
less.  The  equipment  is  ready  at  hand.  There 
are  recreation  halls  most  of  which  were  built 
under  the  excitement  of  the  war  and  all  of 
which  could  be  easily  secured  for  the  use  of  the 
church.  Some  of  these  have  been  turned  into 
storehouses  by  companies  because  there  was  no 
organization  to  take  care  of  the  buildings  or 
prepare  programs  for  the  men.  These  halls  are 
lighted  by  electricity  and  with  very  little  ad¬ 
ditional  expense  could  be  wired  for  moving 
picture  purposes. 


MIGRANT  workers  present  a  national  problem.  Their  itineraries  cover 
a  wide  area  and  they  engage  in  a  diversity  of  occupations. 

Their  care  must  be  a  national  concern.  The  peculiar  needs  of  these  necessary 
wanderers  must  be  met  by  the  Christian  church. 

The  work  of  competing  agencies  must  be  unified  to  promotel  economy 
and  efficiency  in  what  is  an  otherwise  expensive,  because  a  decentralized, 
and  in  many  instances  a  necessarily  mobile  organization. 

Specialized  Christian  workers  must  follow  and  minister  to  varied  groups, 
just  as  the  church  followed  and  ministered  to  the  soldier,  in  camp,  on  the 
march,  at  war  and  now  in  unemployment. 

Cooperation  will  eliminate  the  “pan-handler”  in  these  unshepherded  groups. 


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Migrant  Groups  :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Policies  and  Programs 

BESIDES  the  purely  economic  problems  there  is  a  field  of  voluntary  activity 
to  be  found  in  meeting  some  of  the  immediate  needs  of  the  migrant  situa¬ 
tion.  It  is  best  met  by  Christian  kindness  brought  about  through  per¬ 
sonal  contacts.  It  must  be  understood  that  such  activities  are  palliative  rather  than 
preventive  with  respect  to  the  problem  as  a  whole.  They  must  not  be  substituted 
in  thought  or  in  fact  for  any  of  the  deeper-lying  measures  which  it  is  the  duty  of 
enlightened  public  opinion  to  demand  and  of  the  state  to  work  out. 

The  World  War  has  shown  numerous  examples  of  welfare  service  in  which  voluntary 
philanthropic  agencies  cooperated  with  the  army.  Exact  methods  have  been  devel¬ 
oped;  a  successful  technique  has  been  discovered  and,  most  important,  a  strong 
body  of  Christian  workers  has  been  educated.  Even  the  necessary  equipment  is 
at  hand.  All  these  may  be  capitalized  for  the  benefit  of  the  migrant  workers. 

A  fundamental  service  to  be  performed  by  the  church  is  to  provide  these  men  with 
non-commercial  and  friendly  resorts  while  waiting  between  seasons  and  between 
jobs.  Almost  everything  which  it  has  been  necessary  to  do  for  the  soldier  in  travel, 
in  camp  and  at  leisure  ought  to  be  done  for  the  migrant  worker. 

The  methods  of  this  welfare  service  will  naturally  have  to  vary  from  community  to 
community.  Sometimes  food,  shelter,  recreation,  reading  and  writing  material, 
clinic  or  hospital  service  would  need  to  be  supplied.  The  direction  of  the  service 
would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  minister,  chaplain  or  other  Christian  worker;  and  its 
success  would  be  in  proportion  to  their  tact,  efficiency  and  genuine  brotherliness. 

The  striking  degree  to  which  commercial  agencies  exploit  the  workers  results  in 
bitterness  and  an  intense  radicalism  among  a  large  section  of  migrant  peoples.  What 
could  be  more  Christian  than  to  substitute  an  organized  movement  of  kindness  for 
one  of  injustice. 

An  example  of  this  sort  of  service  is  to  be  found  in  the  experiment  of  Mayor  Gregory 
of  Pratt,  Kansas.  He  erected  a  large  tent  in  a  vacant  lot  opposite  the  Court  House 
for  the  accommodation  of  harvest  hands.  It  was  furnished  with  seats,  tables,  writing 
materials,  a  music  box,  cots  and  bundles  of  straw.  Men  who  had  no  money  to  buy 
meals  were  given  work  on  the  streets  or  sent  out  on  short  jobs. 

Mayor  Gregory  reports  that  he  personally  put  in  two  weeks’  time  last  year  handling 
2,000  men  at  this  camp.  Of  this  number  only  three  refused  to  go  out  to  work. 


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101 


Farmers  met  the  workers  at  the  camp  and  organized  their  harvest  crews.  The 
reported  cost  of  the  total  enterprise  was  less  than  $100.  Ministers  of  Pratt  visited 
the  camp  each  evening  and  on  Sundays  addressed  the  men. 

A  tentative  working  plan  for  the  churches  might  be  worked  out  upon  these  lines: 

The  various  religious  organizations  now  working  for  migrants  should  cooperate. 

Where  religious  agencies  at  work  are  in  a  position  adequately  to  care  for  the  migrant 
problem  their  work  should  be  encouraged  and  if  necessary  they  should  be  given 
financial  support. 

Where  non-religious  agencies  are  at  work,  such  as  state  employment  bureaus, 
Christian  workers  should  be  furnished  to  cooperate  with  them. 

In  the  labor  markets  which  are  being  neglected,  permanent  welfare  centers,  adequately 
equipped  and  manned,  should  be  set  up. 

Where  permanent  welfare  centers  are  not  necessary,  work  for  migrants  should  be 
conducted  through  the  local  churches  which  are  sympathetic  to  the  movement.  If 
advisable,  the  work  of  these  local  churches  should  be  supervised  and  coordinated 
through  the  services  of  a  trained  worker. 

“Huts”  should  be  established  to  care  for  these  groups  in  communities  not  large  enough 
to  warrant  building  a  church,  for  example  in  the  logging  camps. 

Itinerant  missionaries  should  visit  points  not  sufficiently  permanent  to  require  a  hut. 

In  all  this  work  it  is  important  to  provide  for  men  while  they  are  up  and  doing  rather 
than  down  and  out. 

A  proposed  program  for  migrant  workers  is  presented  herewith  in  tabulated  form. 


102 


Migrant  Groups :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Proposed  Program  for  Migrant  Workers 

Type  of 
enterprise 

Number 

of 

workers 

needed 

How  arrived  at 

Number  of  enter¬ 

prises  proposed  for 
five-year  program 

Months  per  year 

operated 

Cost  per  enterprise 

one  year 

Cost  per  year  en¬ 

tire  program 

Cost  to  churches 

I.  Units  at¬ 
tached  to 
employment 
service. 

400 

Actual  number  public  em¬ 
ployment  offices  handling 
1,000  men  per  month. 

100 

12 

$3,000 

$300,000 

$150,000 

II.  Itinerat¬ 
ing  units  for 
grain  har¬ 
vest  hands. 

75 

Estimated  number  of  coun¬ 
ties  handling  1,000  harvest 
migrants  at  a  given  time. 

50 

3 

800 

40,000 

20,000 

III.  Labor 
camp  units. 

5,000 

Estimate  based  on  offi¬ 
cially  reported  number 
and  population  of  labor 
camps  in  New  York  and 
California. 

1,000 

8 

1,500 

1,500,000 

750,000  1 

IV.  Units  for 
women  and 
children  in 
cannery  and 
agricultural 
labor  camps. 

1,000 

Estimate  based  on  investi¬ 
gation  of  cannery  and  ag¬ 
ricultural  labor  camps  in 
New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Delaware  and  Maryland 
with  California  official  re¬ 
ports. 

200 

3 

800 

160,000 

80,000  ; 

V.  City  “res¬ 
cue”  mis¬ 
sions. 

No  estimate  possible  pre¬ 
vious  to  survey. 

1  year  f 

5  years  $ 

£1, 000, 000 

£5,000,000 

NEW  AMERICANS 


NEW  AMERICANS 


DURING  the  war  probably  a  million  immigrants  returned  to  the  old 
country.  Before  the  war  more  than  half  as  many  immigrants  returned 
to  the  fatherland  as  came  to  America. 

These  immigrants  became  missionaries  for  the  United  States.  However,  the  story  of 
their  experiences  and  their  commendation  or  condemnation  of  America  depended 
largely  upon  the  treatment  they  had  received  at  our  hands — whether  we  were  true 
to  our  promises  or  whether  we  failed  to  make  good  with  those  whom  we  invited  to 
come  here. 

No  one  can  tell  even  approximately  how  many  of  the  immigrants  who  are  return¬ 
ing  to  the  fatherland  will  come  back  to  us  because  Europe  is  passing  through  a 
period  of  reconstruction  which  will  probably  require  the  assistance  of  every  able- 
bodied  man  and  woman  to  complete  its  enormous  task. 

It  may  be  that  the  home-returning  immigrant  will  find  in  his  reconstructed  country 
the  realization  of  the  dream  he  had  when  he  first  came  to  America — for  out  of  the 
war  there  may  emerge  a  new  democracy  in  Europe. 

But  even  though  none  of  them  should  return,  the  United  States  has  a  serious  enough 
problem  on  its  hands  in  dealing  adequately  with  the  immigrants  who  remain  here. 

The  older  immigration  came  principally  from  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  Scandinavia 
and  Germany.  The  “New  Americans”  are  coming  from  Austria,  Hungary,  Italy, 
Russia  and  to  some  extent  from  the  Near  East. 

“New  Americans,”  for  the  purpose  of  this  survey,  are  those  who  come  from  southern 
and  eastern  Europe  and  the  Levant. 


FOREIGN-BORN  POPULATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  1919 


Immigration,  April  1910-June  1919 .  5,566,000 

Emigration,  April  1910-June  1919 .  1,909,000 

Net  immigration,  April  1910-June  1919 .  3,657,000 

Foreign-born  population,  April  1910 .  13,346,000 

Total  foreign-born  population,  June  1919 .  17,003,000 


106 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  Field 

PROPERLY  to  present  a  survey  of  new  Americans  will  mean  a  study  of  the 
field  itself,  its  problems,  character  and  extent;  an  analysis  of  the  forces  at 
work  within  the  field;  and  a  statement  regarding  a  program  adequate  and 
sufficient  for  the  needs. 

One  problem  of  the  new  American  is  distribution.  He  has  crowded  into  the  cities. 
Here  he  forms  his  “Little  Italy,1 ”  his  “Ghetto/’  his  “Bohemian  Hills”— usually 
retaining  his  native  social  ideas  and  customs. 

In  a  city  like  New  York  the  problem  stands  out  in  the  large.  In  that  city  the  increase 
in  population  of  Russians,  Italians  and  Austro-Hungarians,  for  the  period  of  ten 
years  ending  in  1910,  was  greater  in  each  case  than  in  the  native  population.  Such 
an  unbalanced  growth  is  inevitably  reflected  in  the  decreased  percentage  of  Protestant 
church  members,  now  reduced  to  nearly  7  per  cent.  It  is  reflected  in  New  York’s 
political  life.  Indeed,  it  intensifies  the  city’s  problem  in  every  direction  and  gives 
rise  to  many  new  phases  of  city  life  and  work. 


PERCENTAGE  OF  FOREIGN-BORN  WHITES  AND  NATIVE  WHITES 

OF  FOREIGN  OR  MIXED  PARENTAGE 
BASED  UPON  POPULATION  OF  1910 


ATLANTIC 

OCEAN 


Interchurch  Workl  Movement  or  North  America 


G.D.JBJ 


HOME  MISSIONS:  New  Americans 


107 


ASSIMILATION 

THE  difficulties  of  assimilation  grow  out  of 
the  constant  ratio  of  aliens  within  our  pop¬ 
ulation,  their  uneven  distribution  throughout 
the  country  and  their  tendency  to  congregate 
in  congested  city  quarters. 

The  constancy  with  which  alienism  retains  its 
numerical  strength  within  our  population  is 
well  shown  by  a  few  figures.  Approximately 
14  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  the  United 
States  is  foreign  born  and  it  has  scarcely  varied 
in  fifty  years.  In  1860  it  was  13.2  per  cent.;  in 
1870,  14.4  per  cent.;  in  1880,  13.3  per  cent.; 
in  1890,  14.8  per  cent.;  in  1900,  13.7  per  cent.; 
in  1910,  14.7  per  cent.  These  figures  are  the 
more  significant  when  we  recall  that  the  per¬ 
centages  represent  adults  almost  entirely;  of 
the  foreign-born  whites  in  1910  only  5.7  per 
cent,  were  below  fifteen  years  of  age.  Among 
the  native  whites  of  native  parentage  35.8  per 
cent,  were  children  under  fifteen  years. 

Two-thirds  of  the  immigrant  population  which 
formerly  came  to  this  country  settled  in  the 


four  states  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  and  Massachusetts.  Seventy-two  per 
cent,  of  the  foreigners  in  the  United  States  live 
in  cities  2,500  and  over. 

Huddled  together  in  foreign  quarters,  out  of 
touch  with  the  larger  life  of  America,  they  be¬ 


come  an  easy  prey  to  unscrupulous  agitators. 
Sometimes  the  economic  doctrines  accepted 
abroad  influence  their  relationships  in  America 
because  they  are  unfamiliar  with  the  principles 
of  government  which  control  this  country 
politically.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
immigrant  becomes  a  menace  to  the  well-being 
of  the  United  States. 


NATIONAL  PRIDE 

THE  new  American  in  his  pride  of  national¬ 
ity  presents  another  problem.  This  trait 
is  an  advantage  if  properly  understood  by 
Americans  and  if  not  over-emphasized  by  the 
immigrants.  Americans  should  appreciate  the 
fine  ideals  which  the  foreigners  bring  with  them, 
and  also  their  traditions,  accomplishments  and 
culture.  On  the  other  hand  the  immigrant  must 
learn  more  about  the  real  nature  of  the  country 
which  he  has  made  his  home  and  in  which  he 
hopes  to  establish  his  family,  and  must  learn 
to  take  his  place  as  a  citizen  and  as  a  man. 


THE  WOMAN’S  LOT 

ANOTHER  problem  of  the  new  American 
jLjl  is  found  in  the  women  of  his  family. 
The  immigrant  man,  while  limited  in  his  con¬ 
tact  with  American  life,  nevertheless  has  cer¬ 
tain  social  opportunities  which  lift  him  out  of 
the  monotony  of  his  toil,  giving  him  a  larger 
outlook  upon  life.  The  women,  however,  are 
usually  confined  to  the  four  walls  of  their 
kitchens.  They  bring  up  large  families  of  chil¬ 
dren,  they  scarcely  ever  see  anyone  outside 
their  families  and  the  terrible  monotony  of  their 
daily  lives  often  drives  them  to  insanity  and 
suicide. 


EUROPEAN  BACKGROUND 

BEFORE  the  war,  when  Europe  was  gener¬ 
ally  governed  by  an  autocracy,  millions  of 
its  natives  fled  to  America  to  find  freedom. 
America  was  to  them  the  “promised  land.” 

In  their  own  country  they  were  overshadowed 
by  a  state  religion  which  was  ritualistic  and 
political  in  its  character.  Economically  they 
were  compelled  to  work  for  starvation  wages 
with  no  hope  for  their  future.  Socially  they 
were  handicapped  in  that  they  belonged  to  the 
lower  classes  and  the  possibility  of  rising  to  the 


108 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


level  of  the  so-called  upper  classes  was  next  to 
hopeless,  no  matter  what  their  natural  ability 
might  have  been. 

WHAT  DID  THEY  FIND? 

N  AMERICA  they  had  more  to  eat.  They 
wore  better  clothes.  They  had  the  right  to 
vote.  They  had  access  to  a  free  education. 
They  were  given  better  jobs. 

They  found  they  could  break  through  into  the 
upper  classes;  for  while  they  discovered  that 
there  were  classes  in  America,  they  had  the 
freedom  to  pass  from  one  to  another  according 
to  their  character,  general  ability  and  per¬ 
sonality. 

But  they  found  that  there  were  those  in  this 
country — even  among  their  own  people — who 
were  quite  ready  to  exploit  them.  They  were 
herded  to  the  polls  by  unscrupulous  politicians 
and  voted  in  blocks.  They  were  compelled  to 
live  in  shacks  and  unsanitary  camps. 

They  found  that  while  they  earned  more  money 


in  this  country,  their  living  conditions  were  such 
that  often  their  apparent  advance  was  a  ques¬ 
tionable  one. 

They  were  colonized  by  padrones  and  contrac¬ 
tors  and  thus  shut  out  from  contact  with 
American  life. 

They  exchanged  the  country  life  to  which  they 
had  been  accustomed  for  the  filth  and  degrada¬ 
tion  of  the  city  tenement. 

They  were  given  higher  wages — but  not  at  all 
commensurate  with  the  services  they  rendered. 

They  were  given  the  vote — but  somehow  it  did 
not  seem  to  affect  the  social  conditions  under 
which  they  lived. 

They  left  the  cathedrals  of  their  native  lands 
to  be  invited  to  a  bare,  dirty  mission  hall  on  a 
side  street. 

They  were  given  scant  welcome  in  the  churches 
and  were  looked  askance  at  by  the  members. 
They  could  not  understand  the  diversity  among 


HOME  MISSIONS:  New  Americans 


the  Christian  forces  in  this  new  country,  nor 
their  jealous  rivalry. 

MISUNDERSTOOD  BY  AMERICANS 

HERE  are  those  in  the  United  States  who 
profess  to  despise  the  immigrant  for  various 
reasons.  Sometimes  it  is  assumed  that  the  im¬ 
migrant  comes  here  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
making  what  is  to  him  a  small  fortune  and  then 
returning  to  his  own  country  to  spend  this 
money. 

But  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  immi¬ 
grant  has  honestly  earned  whatever  he  takes 
with  him  and  he  has  left  behind  more  than  its 
equivalent  in  services  rendered. 

These  able-bodied  immigrant  workers  have 
come  to  our  country  at  a  comparatively  slight 
expense  to  the  United  States,  equipped  for 
service  on  the  day  they  landed  because  their 
own  countries  spent  considerable  money  for 
their  education  and  general  equipment. 

There  are  some  who  insist  that  the  immigrant 
is  bringing  with  him  loathsome  diseases;  that 
he  is  the  scum  of  the  earth,  and  that  he  might 
better  remain  in  the  country  from  which  he 
came.  Such  expressions  are  wide  of  the  mark. 


109 


With  the  careful  scrutiny  given  the  immigrant 
at  our  ports  of  entry  the  number  of  totally 
undesirable  persons  has  been  reduced  to  a 
minimum. 

ILLITERACY 

FROM  the  viewpoint  of  illiteracy  the  prob¬ 
lem  of  the  new  American  is  much  more 
acute  than  of  the  older  immigration.  According 
to  Fairchild  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  in 
immigrants  14  years  of  age  or  over  (1899  to 
1909)  showed  the  following  results:  Scandi¬ 
navians  .4  per  cent.,  Irish  2.1  per  cent.,  Ger¬ 
mans  5.1  per  cent. 

For  the  new  immigration  we  have:  Italians, 
north  11.4  per  cent.,  south  54.2  per  cent.; 
Hebrew  25.7  per  cent.,  Polish  35.4  per  cent., 
Croatian  and  Slovenian  36.4  per  cent. 

While  it  is  true  that  many  immigrants  who 
have  come  to  America  are  illiterate  it  should  be 
remembered  that  most  of  these  came  from 
small  towns  or  rural  districts  where  the  educa¬ 
tional  facilities  are  not  as  good  as  they  are  in 
the  city.  The  most  undesirable  class — the 
criminal — comes  from  the  city  and  is  therefore 
the  best  educated. 


THE  IMMIGRANT  INVASION  OF  THE  CITIES 


13.000,000  FOREIGNERS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


BOSTON  CLEVELAND  CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


Iniercourco  worm  Moremen  cf  Mono  <mre'ma 


G  O  240 


no 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  test  of  literacy  is  not  by  any  means  the 
best  one  in  our  selection  of  the  immigrant.  It 
is  a  great  mistake  to  judge  him  by  our  stand¬ 
ards  of  literacy;  this  is  no  real  gauge  of  his 
manhood. 

It  is  not  a  question  merely  of  having  all  for¬ 
eigners  speak  the  same  language  that  we  do. 
Some  of  the  most  bitter  opponents  of  American 
ideals  speak  the  English  language  most  fluently. 
It  is  rather  that  there  should  be  a  unity  of  spirit 
between  all  those  in  this  country  who  desire  the 
best  interests  of  all  the  people. 


UNDESIRABLE  CITIZENS 

HE  claim  is  sometimes  made  that  the 
United  States  is  receiving  the  worst  ele¬ 
ments  of  Europe;  that  the  better  class  does  not 
come  to  America;  and  it  is  argued  that  the  sum 
of  the  worst  elements  of  a  group  of  nations 
cannot  possibly  result  in  the  finest  product 
of  the  human  race. 

If  it  were  merely  a  question  of  wealth  or  educa¬ 
tion  there  would  undoubtedly  be  some  point  to 
the  above  argument.  But  whatever  the  theory 


COMPARATIVE  AMERICAN  AND 
FOREIGN  POPULATION 

IN  THE 

CALUMET  REGION 


EAST  HAMMOND 
100% 


CALUMET 

100% 


WEST  HAMMOND 
95% 


BURNHAM 

95% 


5% 


5% 


HEGEWISCH 

86% 


14% 


INDIANA  HARBOR 
83% 


17% 

WHITING 

70% 


EAST  CHICAGO 
80% 


20% 

HAMMOND 

(EXCLUSIVE  OF  EAST  HAMMOND) 
31% 


20% 


FOREIGN 


Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America. 


30% 


69% 


AMERICAN 


1 0  0  2/3 


112 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


on  this  point  it  is  daily  being  demonstrated  in 
our  American  life  that  the  children  of  these  very 
foreigners  are  taking  places  of  leadership  and 
are  rapidly  becoming  the  backbone  of  America. 

PHYSICAL  IMPROVEMENT 

THE  Immigration  Commission  appointed 
by  the  United  States  government  brought 
out  some  interesting  facts  with  reference  to  the 
physical  changes  which  have  taken  place 
among  immigrants.  Not  only  do  they  adopt 
American  customs  but  their  personal  and  bodily 
appearance  undergoes  a  marked  change. 

In  many  instances  the  children  of  the  immi¬ 
grant  show  greater  height  and  weight  than  the 
same  races  in  the  mother-country.  In  some 
cases  even  the  head-form — one  of  the  most 


MORE  murders  were  commit¬ 
ted  in  a  single  mid-western 
mining  county  in  1917  than  in  the 
entire  Dominion  of  Canada. 


stable  and  permanent  facial  characteristics — 
has  undergone  very  great  changes.  For  in¬ 
stance,  the  eastern  European  Hebrew  usually 
has  a  round  head.  His  American-born  child  be- 


THE  I.  W.  W.  maintains  thir¬ 
teen  newspapers  printed  in 
English  and  nineteen  printed  in 
foreign  languages. 


comes  more  long-headed  than  his  parent;  while 
the  descendant  of  the  southern  Italian — who  in 
Italy  has  a  head  of  the  long  type — becomes 
more  short-headed  than  his  parent. 


In  all  instances  in  this  country  the  head-form 
of  the  descendants  of  these  races — so  markedly 
different  in  Europe — approach  a  uniform  type 
so  far  as  the  shape  of  the  head  is  concerned. 
This  fact  is  extremely  suggestive,  inasmuch  as 
it  shows  even  those  racial  characteristics  that 
seem  to  be  most  permanent  are  subject  to  very 
marked  changes  due  to  American  environment. 
If  these  physical  changes  are  so  great  we  may 
well  conclude  that  the  whole  mental  and  even 
the  moral  constitution  of  the  people  has  un¬ 
doubtedly  changed  under  the  new  conditions. 


Bohemian  Free-Thinkers  at  Work 


Teachings  from  “Catechism  for 
Bohemian  and  American  Schools.” 

"THERE  IS  NO  GOD: 

GOD— God  Is  a  Word  Representing  An  Im¬ 
aginary  Being  Which  People 
Themselves  Have  Worked  Out" 

JESUS  CHRIST — “The  Illegitimate  Son  of  a 

Virgin  Named  Mary." 

BIBLE— “Written  by  Ordinary  Men;”  “Record 
of  Notions,  Not  Events;”  "Unde¬ 
pendable;"  "Unbelieveable.” 


Translations  of  Payne  and  Ingersoll  Broadcast 


SPIRITUAL  NEED 

HE  greatest  problem  of  all  is  primarily 
spiritual.  The  warring  of  old-world  pre¬ 
possessions  and  prejudices — political,  social, 
economic,  and  religious  —  with  new  world 
standards,  in  the  same  fields  can  be  harmonized 
only  through  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  There  is  no 
other  force  or  power  that  can  adequately  meet 
all  the  issues  involved. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  New  Americans 


113 


The  Forces  at  Work 

RACIAL  solidarity  is  influenced  by  existing  fraternal  orders  and  social  clubs 
but  more  especially  by  the  foreign-language  press.  As  an  agency  for  the 
^  conservation  of  old-country  ideals,  these  publications  cannot  be  overlooked. 
Some  of  these  papers  are  frankly  atheistic  and  not  a  few  have  been  suspected  of 
disloyalty  to  the  government. 

There  has  doubtless  been  an  over-emphasis  upon  this  tendency  of  the  foreign-language 
press  but  unquestionably,  and  on  the  whole,  it  tends  to  perpetuate  old-world  influences 
and  to  retard  assimilation. 

Many  of  the  foreign-language  religious  papers  are  as  nationalistic  as  their  secular 
contemporaries. 

The  public  school  is  the  greatest  factor  in  influencing  the  life  of  the  immigrant. 

There  his  children  receive  their  first  lessons  in  democracy  and  in  consequence  he  soon 
comes  to  feel  that  the  public  school  represents  the  government  in  a  very  real  sense. 

The  labor  union  probably  does  more  to  assimilate  the  foreigner  than  any  other  agency. 

It  is  one  of  the  very  few  institutions  in  our  American  life  which  brings  together  men 
of  all  nationalities;  men  with  a  common  purpose  and  who  suffer  and  sacrifice  for  a 
common  cause. 

The  constant  appeal  for  better  homes,  better  wages,  better  working  conditions, 
better  cities;  indeed,  better  everything,  of  which  the  immigrant  hears  in  the  labor 
union  is  bound  to  spur  him  on  to  better  living  and  encourage  him  to  realize  his  best 
ideals. 

The  “national”  churches  in  this  country  (principally  Polish  and  Magyar)  are  largely 
supported  by  their  home  governments  and  undoubtedly  help  the  people  of  their  own 
nationalities  in  many  ways.  But  the  whole  tendency  of  these  churches  is  to  influence 
their  members  to  retain  their  connections  with  old-country  organizations  and  citizen¬ 
ships. 

Their  pastors  are  subsidized  and  pensioned  by  their  home  governments  and  they 
naturally  seek  in  every  possible  way  to  retain  the  good-will  of  foreign  government 
officials  rather  than  to  take  their  part  as  citizens  in  the  life  of  this  country.  We  can 
readily  understand  this  tendency  on  their  part  if  we  but  imagine  ourselves  placed  in 
their  position, 


114 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


PROTESTANT  CHURCHES 

HE  foreign-language  church  is  a  separate 
and  distinct  ecclesiastical  organization, 
patterned  sometimes  after  European  institu¬ 
tions  of  a  like  character.  Undoubtedly  the 
tendency  of  these  churches  has  been  to  retard 
assimilation  and  to  perpetuate  old-world  re¬ 
lationships  while  the  new  world  needed  the 
enthusiasm  and  spirituality  of  these  new  Ameri¬ 
can  Christians. 

Established  English-speaking  churches  attempt¬ 
ing  direct  assimilation,  urge  the  absorption  of 
new  American  converts  without  any  special 
recognition  of  racial  background  or  racial 
barrier.  This  may  be  an  ideal  course  but  what 
happens  is  that  the  new  convert  is  unable  to 
assume  the  full  responsibility  of  church  mem¬ 
bership  or  to  enter  fully  into  its  privileges. 

There  is  in  most  American  churches  a  degree  of 
social  or  racial  cleavage  which  tends  at  first  to 
patronize  the  newcomer  and  then  neglect  him. 
Being  lost  in  the  American  church,  the  new 
American  does  not  have  the  opportunity  that 
he  might  otherwise  exercise  of  evangelizing  his 
own  kinsmen. 


Foreign-speaking  congregations  related  to  es¬ 
tablished  English-speaking  churches,  welcome 
the  new  Americans  who  worship  in  their  mother- 
tongue.  Here  there  is  found  such  degree  of 
congregational  freedom  and  responsibility  as 
may  seem  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  particular 
group.  Such  congregations  meet  in  the  building 
of  the  English-speaking  church,  or  in  one  situ¬ 
ated  in  the  foreign  community,  or  in  both. 

The  polyglot  church.  Here  there  is  a  kind  of 
cathedral  church  in  a  community  where  there 
are  many  language  groups.  These  distinct  but 
related  organizations  are  brought  into  affilia¬ 
tion  with  one  another  through  a  college  of 
ministers,  each  member  of  which  serves  a  par¬ 
ticular  congregation,  but  with  an  American 
pastor  at  the  head.  One  equipment  for  social 
and  educational  ministries  suffices  for  these 
different  organizations. 

A  group  of  churches,  of  English-speaking  and 
foreign-speaking  members,  may  form  a  new 
type  of  American  parish,  each  church  enjoying 
a  large  degree  of  freedom  but  all  related  as  a 
single  parish  under  the  leadership  of  an  Ameri¬ 
can  minister. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  New  Americans 


115 


An  Adequate  Program 

COOPERATION  must  be  established  with  all  other  agencies  having  a  program 
of  which  the  church  may  approve,  for  the  building  up  of  life  of  new  Americans 
and  whose  general  objects  may  be  stated  briefly  as  follows: 

To  help  create  right  relationships  between  the  racial  groups  of  America;  to  help 
interpret  American  ideals  to  new  Americans;  to  help  promote  social  relationships 
between  old  and  new  Americans  on  the  basis  of  mutual  acquaintance  and  apprecia¬ 
tion;  to  encourage  the  study  of  particular  peoples,  their  ideals  and  their  achievements, 
and  rightly  to  appraise  their  contributions  generally  to  human  progress;  to  encourage 
reasonable  goals  of  Americanization — acquaintance,  good-will,  cooperation  and  the 
appreciation  of  the  dignity  and  value  of  life — irrespective  of  race. 

Strong  religious  centers  must  be  maintained  instead  of  poorly  equipped,  weakly- 
manned  missions.  The  programs  of  these  centers  should  touch  every  phase  of  life. 

Native  American-born  leaders  must  be  trained  through  intimate,  personal  contact 
not  only  with  the  foreign-born  people  living  in  this  country  but  with  those  in  the 
countries  from  which  foreigners  come. 

Leaders  from  the  foreign-language  groups  must  also  be  trained  in  schools  thoroughly 
American,  with  full  opportunity  to  study  and  know  American  life  and  ideals. 

Broad  types  of  work,  social  and  religious,  must  be  developed  which  shall  deal 
largely  with  children  and  young  people  through  whom  adults  may  be  influenced. 
From  these  there  may  be  raised  up  a  competent  leadership  for  the  people  of  their 
own  nationality. 

Specialized  work  among  men  by  men  should  be  conducted  in  view  of  a  large  pre¬ 
ponderance  of  males  among  the  immigrant  population. 

The  creation  of  a  modern  foreign-language  literature  is  most  desirable.  It  should 
include  strong  Protestant  periodicals  for  at  least  six  or  eight  major  language  groups; 
translation  of  great  Christian  documents  and  literature;  pamphlets  dealing  with 
present  social,  economic  and  scientific  problems  from  the  standpoint  of  religion  and 
the  church;  and  utilization  as  far  as  possible  in  the  existing  foreign-language  press 
of  articles  prepared  by  special  writers. 

Publicity  campaigns  in  immigrant  centers,  involving  the  use  of  posters,  pamphlets, 
paid  advertising  and  other  methods  should  also  be  conducted. 


116 


New  Americans :  HOME  MISSIONS 


LOST,  STRAYED  OR  STOLEN 

VANGELISTIC  campaigns  are  needed 
among  those  who  have  definitely  broken 
with  the  religion  of  their  fathers  and  are  fast 
becoming  atheists.  Among  these  there  are 
many  who  constitute  a  distinct  menace  to 
America  because  of  their  anti-religious  atti¬ 
tude.  Most  of  these  are  young  people  or  men 
and  women  who  have  not  yet  reached  middle- 
age.  Such  a  campaign  could  not  be  regarded 
as  proselytizing. 

Training  schools  must  be  founded  for  the 
preparation  of  leaders  who  may  wish  to  serve 
in  their  own  communities  as  volunteer  workers 
among  the  immigrants. 

Frequent  conferences  should  be  held  not  only 
of  state  and  national  representatives  having 
interests  in  local  fields  but  also  of  local  workers 
themselves;  so  that  the  entire  enterprise  may 
not  suffer  because  of  ignorance  regarding  facts 
and  of  narrowmindedness  generally  on  the  part 
of  the  workers. 

Organizations  similar  to  the  International  In¬ 
stitute  which  serves  immigrant  girls,  socially 
and  religiously,  should  be  encouraged  and  sup¬ 
ported.  Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  these  or¬ 
ganizations  which  seek  to  conserve  and  protect 
all  that  is  best  in  the  immigrant  character. 


STARTING  RIGHT 

ONTACTS  should  be  formed  with  immi¬ 
grants  before  they  come  to  America  so 
that  they  may  be  guided  at  points  of  departure 
by  unselfish,  Christian  workers  whose  sole 
object  it  is  to  serve  homesick,  discouraged, 
lonely  men,  women  and  children. 

A  denomination  which  has  already  accepted 
responsibility  for  a  particular  people  in  Europe 
or  Asia  should  accept  a  like  responsibility  for 
the  same  group  in  America. 

The  world  field  is  a  unit,  travel  is  rapid,  the 
mails  are  active,  and  workers  trained  in  any 
portion  of  the  work  can  be  used  in  any  other; 
every  zealous  Christian  is  a  potential  church 
and  may  become  a  center  of  Christian  influence. 
Nothing  less  than  a  world  viewpoint  can  be 
taken  in  dealing  with  these  problems. 

SWINGING  DOORS 

HE  Christian  church  has  been  praying  that 
God  would  open  the  door  to  the  “for¬ 
eigner.”  Her  prayers  have  been  answered. 
God  has  opened  the  door.  But  it  swings  both 
ways.  America  may  now  go  to  every  foreigner 
with  the  gospel. 

But,  he  is  also  coming  to  America  and  he  is 
bringing  his  problems  with  him. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 


• 

■ 


NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS 

THE  Indian  of  the  old  trail  was  a  religious  being.  The  very  perils  and  hard¬ 
ships  of  the  chase  and  war-path  created  in  him  a  longing  for  some  relation¬ 
ship  with  the  unseen  but  apparent  world  of  mystery  round  about  him. 

But  the  old  Indian  has  passed  on,  leaving  behind  chiefly  such  vestiges  of  the  old 
regime  as  war  paint  and  feathers,  bow  and  arrow,  blanket  and  moccasin. 

The  Indian  is  no  longer  the  fine  specimen  of  manhood  he  was  thirty  years  ago.  He 
has  degenerated  physically.  Forced  to  live  upon  reservations,  which  often  con¬ 
sisted  of  the  poorest  of  his  former  valuable  possessions,  he  has  been  crowded  in 
small,  close  rooms  without  ventilation.  He  ate  food  to  which  he  was  not  accustomed. 

He  was  deprived  of  his  former  method  of  exercise  with  the  result  that  whereas  tubercu¬ 
losis  was  practically  unknown  among  the  Indians  in  former  years,  today  it  is  the 
greatest  scourge. 

Less  than  one-third  of  the  Indian  population  is  related  to  the  various  Christian 
communions;  approximately  46,000  are  neglected  by  Christian  agencies  and  un¬ 
reached  by  Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant  missionaries.  These  are  found  in  widely 
scattered  areas. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  North  American  Indians 


121 


A  VANISHING  RACE 

HE  total  number  of  Indians  in  the  con¬ 
tinental  United  States  is  approximately 
336,000.  They  are  divided  into  tribal  bands 
and  clans  exceeding  150  in  number  all  speaking 
different  languages  and  dialects  and  scattered 
on  147  reservations  and  in  different  com¬ 
munities  in  practically  every  state  of  the  union. 

In  1900  there  were  in  the  continental  United 
States  237,196;  in  1890,  248,253;  in  1880, 
244,000  and  in  1870,  278,000.  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  the  number  of  Indians  in  the 
continental  United  States  declined  from  1870 
to  1900,  but  increased  considerably  during  the 
decade  between  1900  and  1910. 

The  largest  number  of  Indians  in  1918  was  in 
Oklahoma,  there  being  in  this  state  119,175. 
Other  states  having  an  Indian  population  of 
over  10,000  were :  Arizona,  44,499 ;  South  Dakota, 
23,217;  New  Mexico,  21,186;  California  15,725; 
Minnesota  12,003;  Montana,  12,079;  Wash¬ 
ington,  11,082;  Wisconsin,  10,302. 

The  number  of  Indians  per  100,000  of  our  total 
population  declined  from  721.0  in  1870  to 
288.9  in  1910. 


The  total  number  of  Indians  in  the  continental 
United  States  was  distributed  by  blood  as 
follows: 


All  classes . 

265,683 

100  per 

cent 

Full  blood . 

150,053 

56.5 

ii 

Mixed  blood . 

93,423 

35.2 

it 

White  and  Indian . 

88,030 

33.1 

ii 

Negro  and  Indian . 

2,255 

0.8 

ii 

White,  Negro  and  Indian 

1,793 

0.7 

ii 

Other  mixture  and  mixture 

unknown . 

1,345 

0.5 

ii 

Not  reported . 

22,207 

8.4 

ii 

Of  the  Indians  in  Alaska 

84.7  per 

cent,  are 

full- 

blooded  and  15.3  per  cent,  are  of  mixed  blood. 

Of  the  total  number  of  Indians  in  the  continental 
United  States  50.9  per  cent,  are  males  and  49.1  per 
cent,  are  females;  the  number  of  males  to  100  females 
thus  being  104.4.  The  birth-rate  is  greater  among 
the  Indians  of  mixed  blood  than  it  is  among  the  full- 
blooded  Indians;  it  is  greatest  among  those  of  white 
and  Indian  mixture. 

CHRISTIAN  FORCES  AT  WORK 

INCE  the  days  of  Roger  Williams,  John 
Eliot  and  David  Brainard  sporadic 
attempts  have  been  made  at  occupying  this 


field  by  the  Christian  forces.  According  to  par¬ 
tial  returns  furnished  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs  in  his  report  of  1918  there  are 
594  churches  composed  of  Indians,  with  402 
Protestant  and  222  Roman  Catholic  mission¬ 
aries  working  among  them.  There  are  43,346 
Protestant  and  57,898  Catholic  church-going 
Indians. 

Twenty-six  different  boards  representing 
twenty-one  different  Protestant  denominations 
have  been  responsible  for  this  work.  Partial 
statistics  available  from  eighteen  of  these 
denominations  show  that  there  are  missions 
established  in  over  one  hundred  different  tribes 
and  tribal  bands  with  500  organized  churches 
and  as  many  outstations. 

More  than  250  white  workers  and  300  native 
helpers,  interpreters  and  assistants  serve  these 
points.  The  actual  number  of  adherents  would 
probably  reach  70,000. 

There  are  25  Protestant  mission  schools  with 
an  enrolment  of  2,000. 

The  annual  expenditure  for  all  missionary  work, 
including  the  maintenance  of  these  mission 
schools  does  not  exceed  $330,000  according  to 
the  last  annual  report  of  the  Home  Missions 
Council. 

In  addition  to  these  denominational  efforts 
there  are  such  agencies  as  the  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Association,  with  about  75  organiza¬ 
tions  with  2,200  members  and  the  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  with  17  schools 
with  approximately  1,200  members. 

Other  organizations  are  the  National  Indian 
Association,  the  Indian  Rights  Association,  the 
John  Eliot  Foundation  for  Moral  Training  and 
a  few  Indian  missions. 

THE  PROPOSED  PROGRAM 

HAT  the  Christian  churches  of  this  land 
owe  a  debt  to  the  Indian,  the  eternal  debt 
of  love  forever  unpaid  which  proximity  and 
the  claims  of  neighborliness  bring,  no  one  will 
question.  The  long-deferred  payment  of  this 
debt  calls  for  immediate  settlement  before  the 
night  comes  on  and  the  people  starve.  This 
settlement  calls  for  a  constructive  program  of 
advance  instead  of  sporadic  efforts  and  re- 


122 


North  American  Indians :  HOME  MISSIONS 


trenchment  policies,  and  a  vision  which  admits 
difficulties,  identifies  adversaries  and  overcomes 
in  conquering  might. 

The  task  is  well  summed  up  in  the  words  of 
one  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  the 
American  Indian: 

The  great  problem  above  all  others  which  we  (the 
Christian  agencies)  face  perpetually  among  these 
people  is,  first  of  all  that  they  are  a  primitive  people 
with  little  conception  of  organized  life  other  than 
their  tribal  ways  of  doing  things;  that  the  work 
among  them  must  be  primarily  personal;  that  the 
only  hope  of  the  coming  generations  lies  in  a  native 
leadership;  that  if  we  are  to  hold  the  young  people 
who  come  back  from  school  there  must  be  a  program 
of  social  Christianity,  not  simply  the  preaching  of 
personal  salvation,  important  as  that  is;  that  the 
material  for  religious  education  for  a  primitive  people 
must  be  of  a  sort  to  meet  their  needs;  and  give 
expression  to  their  thinking,  which  is  concrete  and  not 
abstract. 

THE  PROGRAM  OF  ADVANCE 

STATESMANLIKE  program  of  advance 
calls  for  the  following  definite  objectives: 

1.  The  speedy  evangelization  of  the  pagan 
tribes  and  portions  of  tribes,  realized  by  and 
through  a  thorough-going  policy  of  comity  and 
co-operation  which  shall  prevent  over-lapping, 
competition  and  crowding  on  the  part  of  all 
evangelistic  agencies  in  providing  for  these 
unmet  needs. 

2.  The  adequate  strengthening  of  the  forces 
already  on  the  field  calls  for  an  increase  in  the 
personnel  which  shall  make  for  a  greater 
number  of  workers  and  thus  afford  opportunity 
for  the  personal  work  so  necessary  if  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Indians  are  to  be  fully  Christianized. 

3.  A  substantial  material  equipment  should 
involve  construction  of  new  buildings  wherever 
necessary  and  adequate  repairs  at  such  mission 
stations  which  are  now  in  a  state  of  deteriora¬ 
tion.  Community  houses  and  community 
centers  should  be  established  and  maintained 
in  order  to  meet  the  peculiar  demands  of  the 
Indian  people  who  have  the  traditions  of  tribal 
organization  and  tribal  ways  of  doing  things 
and  therefore,  have  little  idea  of  organized  life 
such  as  we  know  it. 


4.  The  time  has  come  when  the  Christian 
forces  must  unite  on  a  great  central  institution 
for  the  training  of  native  leaders  to  meet  the 
needs  among  all  the  Indian  tribes  not  only  in 
the  United  States,  but  furnish  the  means  of 
extending  the  kingdom  of  God  among  the 
millions  of  Indians  in  Central  and  South 
America. 

5.  More  than  7,000  Navaho  children  are  not 
in  school.  Mission  schools  already  existing 
should  be  greatly  strengthened  in  order  to 
educate  and  prepare  the  children  for  more 
advanced  institutes  and  seminaries  which  will 
train  ministers  and  Christian  workers.  This 
elementary  education  is  all  the  more  desirable 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  public  schools  are  not 
yet  provided  in  sufficient  numbers  and  in 
suitable  locations  to  meet  the  needs  of  our 
Indian  youth. 

6.  A  unified  religious  education  program  is 
required  for  Indian  schools  under  trained 
directors,  especially  government  non-reserva¬ 
tion  schools;  these  should  be  supplied  with 
literature  prepared  and  adapted  to  meet  the 
needs  of  these  students. 

7.  A  program  of  applied  social  Christianity 
should  be  arranged  in  Indian  communities  and 
on  reservations;  it  must  be  intensely  practical 
and  should  embody  the  social  message  of  the 
gospel  in  all  its  applications  to  modern  life. 

8.  Two  great  interdenominational  projects 
which  call  for  a  united  approach  on  the  part  of 
all  evangelical  agencies  demand  special  men¬ 
tion.  They  are:  (a)  To  establish  and  maintain 
a  central  interdenominational  institution  for 
training  Christian  leaders  for  all  the  tribes  of 
the  United  States  and  eventually  for  the  twenty 
million  or  more  Indians  in  Central  and  South 
America;  (b)  In  order  to  meet  the  need  of  a 
unified  religious  education  program  under 
trained  religious  work  directors — especially  in 
the  government  non-reservation  schools,  there 
is  imperative  need  for  a  united  approach  on 
behalf  of  all  the  evangelical  agencies;  religious 
directors — preferably  ordained  ministers  of  the 
gospel — should  be  appointed  in  key-institutions, 


ORIENTALS  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


.  .  ‘ 


' 


ORIENTALS  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

WHILE  twenty-eight  millions  of  immigrants  from  Europe  have  come 
to  us  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  somewhat  less 
than  450,000  have  come  from  Asia.  One  hundred  and  forty-five  in 
a  thousand  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  were  born  in  foreign  countries; 
two  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-five  are  immigrants  from  China,  Japan  and  India. 

The  census  of  1910  gives  71,531  Chinese  and  72,157  Japanese  in  continental  United 
States.  The  Chinese  have  decreased  18,332  and  the  Japanese  have  increased  47,831 
since  1900.  In  1870  there  were  63,199  Chinese  and  only  55  Japanese  in  the  United 
States.  About  75  per  cent,  of  the  Chinese  and  95  per  cent,  of  the  Japanese  are  in 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  Mountain  states.  Other  Asiatics  in  the  United  States  are 
some  500  Koreans,  500  Filipinos  and  3,500  East  Indians,  practically  all  on  the 
Pacific  Coast. 

This  Survey  covers  four  Oriental  peoples  in  the  United  States:  Chinese,  the  earliest 
immigration,  now  steadily  decreasing  through  return  of  considerable  numbers  an¬ 
nually  to  their  homes;  Japanese,  increasing  steadily  by  the  immigration  of  picture 
brides  and  the  high  birth  rate,  although  immigration  of  new  laborers  is  prohibited; 
Koreans  and  East  Indians  or  East  Indians,  who  are  present  in  almost  negligible 
numbers,  but  for  various  reasons  have  attracted  considerable  public  attention. 

The  Chinese  come  from  one  small  section  of  the  province  of  Canton,  with  a  language 
quite  different  from  that  used  throughout  most  of  China,  so  that  only  a  very  few 
missionaries  from  China  can  speak  the  language  of  the  Chinese  in  America.  Most  of 
the  Chinese  students  in  the  American  colleges  are  also  out  of  touch  with  the  mass  of 
their  fellow  countrymen  here,  through  difference  of  language  as  well  as  through 
different  social  status. 

The  early  immigration  of  Chinese  was  to  supply  the  demand  for  labor  in  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  California,  and  the  Chinese  laborers  became  pretty  well  scattered  in  the 
mines  and  on  the  ranches,  as  well  as  throughout  the  whole  United  States  in  small 
numbers. 

They  developed  later  a  tendency  to  mass  together  in  large  centers  of  population; 
the  number  in  San  Francisco  was  formerly  three  times  what  it  is  now,  though  the 


126 


Orientals  in  the  United  States :  HOME  MISSIONS 


district  occupied  was  little  if  any  larger.  The  Chinese  were  driven  out  of  some 
cities,  as  Tacoma,  Washington,  and  later  were  largely  supplanted  on  the  ranches  by 
the  influx  of  Japanese.  At  present  the  Chinese  are  found  mostly  in  and  about  the 
large  towns,  though  there  still  remain  a  considerable  number  of  Chinese  farmers 
and  market  gardeners,  particularly  in  the  Sacramento  River  district. 

Their  wide  diffusion  all  over  the  United  States,  though  in  relatively  small  groups, 
has  suggested  a  great  many  local  missionary  enterprises,  which  have  had  more  or 
less  success.  Much  of  this  work  was  well  intentioned  but  lacked  wise  direction,  and 
the  almost  necessary  help  of  an  interpreter. 

The  Chinese  on  the  ranches  in  California  form  one  of  the  most  valuable  elements  of 
the  Chinese  population,  but  are  still  largely  untouched  by  Christian  influences,  due 
to  difficulty  of  reaching  them  and  the  lack  of  trained  Christian  workers. 

The  Japanese  population  is  more  homogeneous  in  language  and  spirit,  though  the 
distinction  between  laborers  and  student  classes  is  somewhat  in  evidence.  All  mis¬ 
sionaries  from  Japan  can  do  effective  work  among  the  Japanese  in  America  during 
their  periods  of  furlough,  and  are  enthusiastically  welcomed  by  the  Japanese  here. 
Chinese  and  Japanese  in  Hawaii  are  more  exclusively  laborers,  but  otherwise  uniform 
in  language  and  spirit  with  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  There 
are  many  reasons  for  considering  the  missionary  problem  of  the  orientals  in  that 
territory  and  in  the  Pacific  Coast  states  as  a  unit. 

The  Japanese  have  gone  extensively  into  agricultural  pursuits  and  remained  on  the 
land,  and  the  Japanese  farmers  are  the  least  effectively  reached  by  the  forces  of 
Christianity.  The  Japanese  are  strongly  massed  in  such  large  centers  as  Seattle, 
San  Francisco  and  Los  Angeles,  and  their  social  and  economic  life  is  well  organized. 

From  these  centers  a  very  effective  influence  goes  out  to  the  Japanese  in  the  country, 
for  the  Japanese  are  great  readers  of  newspapers  and  keep  in  close  touch  with  their 
protective  national  associations. 

The  Koreans  consist  of  small  scattered  groups,  mostly  in  California  and  Hawaii, 
with  a  strong  national  spirit,  very  largely  Christians  or  adherents,  good  workers  in 
various  industries,  principally  agriculture,  and  generally  not  distinguished  from  the 
Japanese.  The  immigrants  from  East  India,  are  scattered  in  small  conspicuous 
groups  from  Vancouver,  B.  C.,  to  the  Imperial  Valley  in  Southern  California,  in  the 
lumber  camps  and  in  the  warm  interior  valleys  of  Central  and  Southern  California. 
They  are  largely  untouched  by  Christian  influences,  are  very  suspicious  on  account 
of  their  connection  with  revolutionary  plans  in  India,  are  generally  transient  laborers 


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without  families,  and  have  a  correspondingly  low  standard  of  living  and  of  morals. 
The  majority  of  these  people  are  Hindus  in  religion  though  some  are  Moslems. 
The  former  are  generally  adherents  of  reformed  sects  and  belong  to  racial  groups 
which  are  physically  and  morally  superior  to  most  of  the  population  of  India. 

The  Chinese  in  America  are  Cantonese,  from  three  or  four  counties  between  Hong¬ 
kong  and  Canton  City.  Japanese  laborers  come  mostly  from  the  southwest  coast 
provinces  of  Japan.  Hindus  are  from  the  plains  of  northern  India.  In  each  case  the 
inhabitants  of  these  districts  are  especially  enterprising  or  venturesome,  being 
distinguished  as  traders,  fishermen,  or  soldiers. 


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The  Problem 

THE  race  prejudice  which  has  so  seriously  hampered  efforts  to  assimilate  the 
orientals  with  American  Christian  civilization  has  had  its  source  largely  in 
economic  competition,  and  only  in  a  slight  degree  has  it  arisen  from  differ¬ 
ence  in  social  and  religious  customs. 

The  restriction  of  the  oriental  population  to  certain  small  poor  quarters  of  the  towns 
and  cities  has  arisen  partly  from  their  own  efforts  toward  self  protection,  but  mainly 
from  the  determined  effort  to  keep  them  from  social  contact  and  from  engaging  in 
activities  which  would  compete  with  white  labor. 

The  violent  prejudice  against  the  Chinese  many  years  ago  has  now  given  way  to  a 
kindly  indifference,  while  the  prejudice  against  the  more  serious  competition  of  the 
Japanese  and  the  East  Indians  has  flamed  up  intensely,  as  the  patient  industry  of 
these  people  has  begun  to  secure  for  them  not  only  standard  American  wages  but 
economic  independence  as  well. 

The  Chinese  have  in  general  accepted  the  positions  of  narrow  economic  opportunity 
to  which  they  were  forced,  and  are  no  longer  a  disturbing  factor,  but  this  acquiescence 
in  social  and  economic  segregation  makes  the  problem  of  mission  work  among  them 
with  the  view  of  Christian  assimilation  all  the  harder.  We  shall  solve  this  perplex¬ 
ing  problem  only  through  the  adoption  of  more  Christian  policies. 

The  urgent  pressure  upward  of  the  Japanese  in  America,  while  it  intensifies  race 
prejudice  among  certain  classes,  is  a  most  hopeful  promise  of  the  success  of  our 
mission  work  among  them. 


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RACE  PREJUDICE 

THE  propaganda  of  race  prejudice  against 
orientals  in  America  and  against  any 
oriental  country  is  a  most  serious  hindrance  to 
Christian  work,  because  it  gives  the  lie  to  our 
Christian  teaching,  and,  even  more  important, 
it  effectively  hinders  the  social  contacts  which 
otherwise  would  inevitably  lead  to  Christian 
assimilation. 

The  problem  of  Christian  work  among  orientals 
is  one  of  aiding  in  racial  adjustments,  securing 
a  fair  chance  in  industrial  competition,  develop¬ 
ment  of  a  public  sentiment  which  will  not  only 
recognize  missionary  responsibility  for  the 
oriental  but  will  meet  him  in  a  spirit  of  brother¬ 
liness,  and  will  be  willing  to  grant  him  all  the 
economic  opportunities  and  political  privileges 
which  Christian  brotherliness  implies.  This  is 
fair,  this  is  Christian. 

It  is  impossible  to  separate  our  problem  of 
Christian  work  for  the  oriental  from  the  prob¬ 
lem  of  securing  to  him  a  chance  to  bring  up 
his  family  under  decent  living  conditions  and 
with  a  fair  educational,  economic  and  social 
opportunity. 

LEGAL  RESTRICTIONS 

THE  artificial  legal  restrictions  which  pre¬ 
vent  the  naturalization  of  orientals  are 
also  a  serious  hindrance  to  Christian  work, 
creating  a  sense  of  alienation  not  favorable  to 
the  spirit  of  brotherhood  which  we  teach.  The 
cry  that  the  oriental  is  “incapable  of  assimila¬ 
tion”  creates  a  presumption  that  he  is  also 
incapable  of  Christianization,  unless  one  dis¬ 
regards  all  the  social  implications  of  Christianity 
as  a  world  religion. 

Special  conditions  undoubtedly  accentuated  the 
feeling  against  a  class  of  immigrants  admittedly 
more  alien  to  our  American  ideals  than  most 
of  those  admitted  at  Ellis  Island,  but  it  has 
been  too  easy  to  exploit  the  differences  be¬ 
tween  the  oriental  and  the  American  and  to 
forget  the  relatively  small  numbers  of  orientals 
in  comparison  with  the  population.  In  a  very 
large  sense  the  problem  of  Christian  work 
among  orientals  is  the  same  as  that  presented  in 
Christian  work  among  any  other  class  of  immi¬ 
grants.  There  are  special  difficulties,  but  these 


are  no  more  serious  than  any  other  problem  of 
Christian  Americanization,  if  approached  with 
a  sympathetic  public  sentiment.  It  is  in  the 
power  of  the  churches  to  develop  this  sentiment. 

The  extreme  importance  of  our  relations  with 
the  countries  across  the  Pacific  from  which 
these  immigrants  come  must,  however,  con¬ 
tinue  to  give  Christian  work  among  orientals 
peculiar  importance  and  urgency  in  the  program 
of  our  churches. 

EARLY  IMMIGRANTS  WERE  MEN 

ALMOST  all  of  the  early  oriental  immi- 
jT\  grants  were  men.  But  many  recent 
Japanese  immigrants  have  been  the  wives  of 
men  who  had  come  earlier.  When  he  is  able 
to  do  so,  the  Japanese  sends  home  for  a  wife, 
the  Chinese  goes  back  to  be  married  and  often 
leaves  his  wife  to  care  for  his  parents  in  the 
ancestral  village.  The  proportion  of  women  to 
men  among  the  Chinese  in  the  United  States  is 
one  to  fourteen,  among  Japanese  one  to  seven. 
There  is  little  intermarriage  between  orientals 
and  Americans,  Chinese  and  Japanese  generally 
looking  upon  it  with  as  much  disfavor  as  do 
Westerners. 

JAPANESE  ANXIOUS  TO  LEARN 

0  ADULT  immigrants,  unless  it  is  the 
Hebrews,  show  so  great  desire  to  learn 
the  English  language  as  the  Japanese.  Very 
few  of  the  East  Indians  can  speak  English  and 
70  per  cent,  are  illiterate  in  their  own  language. 
Many  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  agricultural 
laborers  do  not  speak  English,  as  the  nature  of 
their  work  in  gangs  of  their  own  countrymen 
does  not  require  that  any  but  the  foreman  be 
able  to  deal  directly  with  Americans.  In  towns 
and  cities  almost  all  Japanese  are  able  to  speak 
some  English,  and  this  is  true  of  a  smaller  pro¬ 
portion  of  Chinese.  Many  of  the  older  Chinese 
are  indifferent  about  learning  the  customs  and 
language  of  their  temporary  home.  Eighty- 
five  per  cent,  of  Chinese  agricultural  laborers 
are  able  to  read  the  difficult  Chinese  characters. 
The  total  illiteracy  for  Japanese  immigrants  is 
only  22  per  cent.,  a  very  favorable  comparison 
with  the  68  per  cent,  of  illiteracy  among 
Portuguese  and  54  per  cent,  among  South 
Italians. 


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Orientals  in  the  United  States :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  Forces 

THE  organized  work  carried  on  for  so  many  years  by  the  various  mission 
boards  has  been  specially  reinforced  very  recently  by  the  activities  of  civic 
bodies  through  the  Americanization  campaign,  which  has  enlisted  patriotism 
in  cooperation  with  religion  for  the  solution  of  the  many  racial  problems  in  America. 

Although  there  has  been  some  hesitation  on  the  part  of  civic  bodies  to  extend  to 
the  oriental  communities  the  full  application  of  their  Americanization  campaign, 
yet  the  material  and  the  methods  made  available  by  them  have  been  of  very  great 
help  in  the  work  carried  on  by  religious  organizations,  and  the  possibilities  of  coopera¬ 
tion  between  civic  organizations  and  the  Christian  forces  are  opening  up  with  much 
attractiveness  to  representatives  of  both. 

For  several  years  past  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  and  the  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  have  taken  large  interest  in  the  work  for  orientals, 
and  their  associations  for  Chinese  and  Japanese,  and  the  International  Institutes 
of  the  Young  Women’s  Christian  Association  have  had  a  large  influence  upon  the 
oriental  communities  in  all  the  Pacific  Coast  states  and  in  Hawaii. 

A  large  work  of  Christianization  and  Americanization  of  the  orientals  in  America 
has  been  done  and  is  being  done  by  church  organizations,  particularly  the  Baptist, 
Congregationalism  Disciples  of  Christ,  Episcopalian,  Methodist,  Methodist  South, 
Presbyterian  (North),  with  seven  other  denominations  doing  a  limited  amount  of 
work. 

The  work  of  these  denominations  has  followed  a  traditional  method,  beginning  with 
the  English  night  school  for  adults,  and  developing  as  opportunity  offered  into  the 
ordinary  lines  of  church  organization  on  the  same  plan  as  American  churches. 
Provision  of  dormitories  for  the  single  men  who  largely  predominated  in  the  earlier 
oriental  immigration  has  been  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  work,  and  later  the 
special  ministration  to  oriental  women  and  children  through  district  visitors  and 
kindergartens  or  special  day  and  supplementary  language  schools  has  developed  to 
meet  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  Christian  Americanization  in  the  homes  of  these 
people. 


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131 


MIGRATION  OF  JAPANESE 

N  LATE  years  the  migration  of  the  Japanese 
farmers  and  laborers  from  the  country  dis¬ 
tricts  of  the  coast  states  to  the  mines  and 
farms  of  Utah,  Idaho,  Colorado,  Wyoming  and 
even  Nebraska  has  very  seriously  extended  the 
territory  which  we  should,  but  never  have 
adequately  covered.  Duplication  of  work  in 
the  large  and  certainly  important  centers  has 
been  very  manifest,  while  the  country  districts 
have  been  neglected  and  the  new  districts 
occupied  by  the  migration  eastward  have  been 
almost  overlooked. 

RESULTS  FAR  AFIELD 

HE  several  church  organizations  engaged 
in  Christian  work  for  orientals  have  al¬ 
ways  had  clearly  in  mind  as  a  motive  for  all 
their  work  the  Christian  impulse  which  would 
be  carried  back  to  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific 
through  those  influenced  by  their  Christian 
teachings  here  and  the  results  have  not  been 
disappointing. 


100  PER  CENT.  AMERICANS 

OMETIMES,  however,  the  making  of  con¬ 
verts  to  return  as  missionaries  to  their 
own  country  has  led  the  mission  workers  to 
forget  the  necessity  of  assisting  the  assimila¬ 
tion  of  orientals  in  America  to  American  Chris¬ 
tian  civilization,  and  the  obligation  to  break 
down  conditions  which  perpetuate  segregation 
and  racial  prejudice. 

Without  forgetting  the  great  things  which  have 
been  and  will  still  be  accomplished  in  the 
renaissance  of  Asia  through  the  returned  immi¬ 
grant,  the  churches  working  among  orientals 
need  to  enter  more  fully  and  cooperate  more 
definitely  in  the  movement  to  make  the  Chinese 
and  Japanese  now  here,  as  all  other  immigrants, 
100  per  cent.  American.  This  is  particularly 
true  in  the  territory  of  Hawaii,  where  at  least 
90  per  cent,  of  the  orientals  are  to  be  a  per¬ 
manent  part  of  the  population  and  their 
children  a  majority  of  the  voting  citizens,  so 
that  their  Americanization  becomes  a  most 
insistent  problem. 


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The  Program 

THERE  must  be  special  effort  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  movement  of  oriental 
population,  seasonal  and  permanent,  so  that  our  religious  work  may  not 
be  sporadic  or  massed  in  large  centers,  but  follow  a  plan  which  covers  the 
entire  field  of  oriental  settlements  in  a  more  adequate  way.  To  do  this  plans  must 
be  devised  for  larger  contacts  with  orientals  scattered  in  the  country,  through  traveling 
evangelists  and  colporteurs. 

It  will  be  impracticable  to  do  such  work  unless  the  districts  where  there  is  a  large 
i  ur  al  population  of  orientals  are  definitely  assigned  to  some  Christian  agency, 
denominational  or  interdenominational,  and  workers  are  specially  trained  for  this 
difficult  task. 

Cooperation  and  combination  in  large  centers  should  be  developed  for  the  sake  of 
efficiency  in  our  supplementary  day  and  night  schools  for  teaching  English  or  Chinese 

and  Japanese,  for  improvements  in  Sunday  school  methods  and  for  kindergarten 
work. 

Mission  boards  must  cooperate  to  secure  proper  dispensary  and  hospital  facilities 

for  or iental  communities  and  opportunities  for  health  education,  especially  among 
the  women. 

There  is  need  of  more  adequate  buildings  and  equipment  for  our  oriental  missions 
in  almost  every  place  outside  of  San  Francisco,  where  there  has  been  a  very  dis¬ 
proportionate  outlay.  Much  more  is  needed  especially  for  Japanese  buildings. 
Many  encouraging  Christian  enterprises  among  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  dwarfed 
and  stunted  by  the  lack  of  proper  buildings.  The  reluctance  of  most  mission  boards 
to  lepeat  the  competitive  building  program  of  San  Francisco  has  hindered  proper 
advance  in  building  in  other  places.  Some  combination  is  desirable  in  certain  places 
as  a  preliminary  to  a  new  building  program. 

The  need  is  not  alone  for  church  buildings,  but  for  dormitories  to  provide  a  Christian 
home  for  the  single  men,  who  still  form  a  majority  of  the  orientals  in  the  United 
States.  The  contributory  effect  upon  Christian  work  for  orientals  of  the  dormitories 
associated  with  almost  every  mission  at  least  in  its  earlier  stages,  and  of  the  homes 
for  oriental  women  and  children  which  have  been  established  by  Presbyterian, 
Methodist  and  Baptist  churches  in  recent  years  has  been  very  great,  and  such 
institutions  are  needed  more  than  ever,  although  the  increase  in  family  life  is  a  most 
hopeful  aspect  of  Christian  work  at  present. 


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133 


CHRISTIAN  NEWSPAPERS 

A  LMOST  equally  important  as  a  policy  for 
XJL  the  future  is  the  development  of  the 
Christian  newspaper  as  a  means  of  religious 
education  and  evangelization  among  the  orien¬ 
tals.  A  Japanese  Christian  newspaper  is 
published  in  Hawaii,  and  two  in  California, 
which  have  considerable  circulation  and  large 
influence.  All  these  are  ably  edited  by  Japanese 
pastors,  and  would  reach  a  much  larger  number 
if  they  could  receive  additional  aid  from  mis¬ 
sion  boards. 

There  is  a  particularly  large  opportunity  for 
the  circulation  of  Christian  literature  among 
the  Japanese,  who  are  almost  all  eager  readers. 
Thousands  of  copies  of  Japanese  Christian 
tracts  have  been  sold  to  the  Japanese  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  the  mountain  states  and  the 
territory  of  Hawaii.  The  bookstores  which 
are  found  in  all  large  Japanese  communities 
frequently  carry  a  line  of  Christian  books,  the 
American  Bible  Society  has  distributed  great 
numbers  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  and  the 
Japanese  churches  demand  a  highly  educated 
ministry  because  they  are  generally  well  read 
and  anxious  for  information. 

RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE 

N  ADDITION  to  these  papers  with  general 
circulation,  very  many  Japanese  ministers 
issue  small  local  religious  papers  or  church 
bulletins  which  are  circulated  widely  beyond 
the  circle  of  church  attendance.  Formerly  a 
Christian  monthly  in  Chinese  was  issued  by  the 
Chinese  Church  Union  of  San  Francisco,  but 
it  has  been  discontinued.  Such  a  paper  is 
equally  needed  to  promote  the  religious  life  and 
church  development  among  the  Chinese  as 
among  the  Japanese,  and  encouragement  of  the 
production  and  circulation  of  Chinese  religious 
literature,  periodical  and  permanent,  would  be 
of  very  great  advantage  to  the  religious  work 
just  now. 

USING  AVAILABLE  FORCES 

HE  public  schools,  national  associations  of 
Chinese  and  Japanese  and  the  press  in 
both  languages  might  be  utilized  much  more 
definitely  by  Christian  workers  among  orien¬ 
tals,  if  systematic  effort  were  made  to  secure 


the  sympathetic  cooperation  of  these  agencies 
in  the  general  program  of  Americanization. 

Many  public  school  teachers,  influential  editors 
of  Chinese  and  Japanese  newspapers  and 
secretaries  of  national  associations  are  Chris¬ 
tians  or  interested  in  mission  work.  Careful 
plans  for  enlisting  their  support  and  promotion 
of  oriental  churches  and  schools,  such  as  have 
been  worked  out  in  connection  with  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Association  work  for  ori¬ 
entals,  would  probably  secure  large  results. 

There  has  been  enlisted  a  large  amount  of 
generous  volunteer  service  in  the  care  of  orien¬ 
tal  churches  from  American  pastors  in  local 
churches  associated  with  oriental  mission  work, 
from  laymen  and  women  in  those  churches  who 
have  accepted  large  responsibilities  in  financing 
and  advising  the  missions,  and  from  teachers 
who  have  given  their  help  in  Sunday  schools 
and  instruction  in  English  and  music  for  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese. 

A  CHRISTIAN  ASSIMILATION 

HE  completion  of  our  task  of  Christian 
assimilation  of  orientals  in  America  de¬ 
pends  very  largely  on  the  enlistment  of  personal 
helpfulness  in  the  local  communities  where  the 
orientals  are  living.  Generous  increases  in  the 
budgets  for  oriental  missions  will  not  meet  the 
situation  unless  the  local  American  churches 
accept  the  obligation  of  neighborliness  and 
Christian  brotherhood  toward  the  orientals 
living  among  them,  and  particularly  toward 
the  beginnings  of  Christian  organizations  which 
the  mission  boards  undertake. 

Finally,  the  policies  for  the  future  look  toward 
a  more  careful  planning  for  the  young  people, 
born  in  this  country  of  oriental  parentage, 
many  of  them  with  a  better  knowledge  of 
English  than  of  their  parents’  language.  Often 
lacking  many  of  the  traditions  and  restraints 
either  of  oriental  or  American  social  life,  they 
specially  need  social  and  vocational  as  well  as 
religious  guidance.  Their  pastors,  with  ex¬ 
cellent  training  in  Christianity  and  oriental 
ideals,  are  unable  to  meet  the  problem  of  these 
American-born  orientals.  Very  particular  at¬ 
tention  must  increasingly  be  given  to  the 
Christian  nurture  of  these  young  people. 


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WEST  INDIES 


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WEST  INDIES 

Cuba 

THE  United  States  gave  Cuba  her  political  freedom  and  many  other  material 
blessings.  She  is  following  our  national  leadership  in  many  directions,  as 
was  evidenced  by  her  declaration  of  war  upon  Germany  immediately  after 
this  country  went  into  the  World  War. 

This  “island  of  a  hundred  harbors”  is  the  largest  and  richest  of  the  West  Indies. 
Its  population  is  over  2,500,000  and  its  area  is  44,164  square  miles.  It  is  800  miles 
long  by  about  60  wide.  It  lies  only  one  hundred  miles  from  the  Florida  peninsula. 

Cuba,  especially  her  capital  and  metropolis,  Havana,  is  rapidly  becoming  the 
favorite  winter  resort  for  many  visitors  from  the  United  States. 

Havana,  with  a  population  of  400,000,  is  one  of  the  six  largest  cities  in  Latin  America. 
It  is  the  city  of  the  world’s  greatest  and  most  democratic  clubs,  the  largest  having 
a  membership  of  109,000. 

American  trade  with  Cuba  is  larger  than  it  is  with  Japan  and  China  combined  and 
far  larger  than  with  any  nation  to  the  south. 

Since  the  last  American  intervention,  with  the  coming  of  Protestant  missionaries,  the 
number  of  marriages  among  all  classes  has  increased  50  per  cent.,  an  evidence  of 
improved  moral  and  religious  conditions. 

In  1898  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  was  84.  It  is  now  only  54  per  cent.,  and  includes 
few  persons  above  30  years  of  age.  The  years  of  American  occupation  emphasized 
the  importance  of  popular  education  and  the  results  speak  for  themselves  in  the 
reduction  of  illiteracy  by  30  per  cent,  in  two  decades. 

The  same  or  at  least  a  similar  result  may  reasonably  be  predicted  if  the  church  should 
present  to  the  Cubans  a  religion  pure  and  undefiled  and  in  sympathetic  accord  with 
the  principles  of  democracy,  as  is  the  case  in  the  United  States. 


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West  Indies :  HOME  MISSIONS 


WHAT’S  THE  ANSWER? 

ILLIONS  of  dollars  of  American  capital 
are  invested  in  Cuban  sugar  plantations. 
How  much  will  the  Christians  of  America 
invest  in  uplifting  the  lives  of  the  Cuban 
people. 

Gambling  and  impurity  are  Cuba’s  national 
vices.  Her  people  are  naturally  temperate  as 
to  the  use  of  intoxicants  but  American  brewers 
have  undertaken  to  overcome  this  by  the 
introduction  of  beer  “kindergartens.” 

Ten  thousand  Cuban  young  people  are  students 
in  American  schools  and  universities. 

Is  the  religious  message  they  will  receive  on 
their  return  to  be  in  harmony  with  their  new 
educational  vision? 

Owing  to  the  predominance  of  the  Negro  and 
mulatto  elements,  Cuba  has  an  increasingly 
difficult  race  problem. 

Cuba  has  school  facilities  for  only  half  of  her 
600,000  children.  In  the  cities  49.9  per  cent, 
of  the  children  attend  school;  in  the  country 
districts,  31.6  per  cent. 

FORCES  IN  THE  FIELD 

EVEN  Protestant  denominations  have  mis¬ 
sions  in  Cuba:  Baptists,  (North  and  South) 
Presbyterians  (North  and  South)  Episcopa¬ 
lians,  Friends  and  Southern  Methodists. 
There  is  a  Protestant  church  membership  of 
12,000  or  one  in  two  hundred  of  the  population. 
There  are  nearly  11,000  Sunday  school  scholars 
and  5,000  Christian  adherents.  There  are  204 
congregations  with  193  Cuban  workers  and  a 
foreign  missionary  staff  of  141 — 53  of  whom 
are  ordained  ministers. 

In  educational  work  the  American  mission 
boards  have  seven  normal  and  training  schools, 
half  of  which  give  some  theological  teaching. 
There  are  3,337  pupils  under  instruction  in 
forty-two  elementary  schools  and  sixteen  board¬ 
ing  and  high  schools. 


REINFORCEMENTS  NEEDED 

FOR  the  next  five  years  an  additional  force 
of  322  Cuban  workers,  80  new  foreign 
missionaries  and  154  American  teachers  is 
called  for  by  the  boards  working  in  Cuba  in 
order  properly  to  occupy  the  fields  for  which 
they  are  responsible. 

For  112  needed  buildings  and  their  equipment 
$1,600,000  is  required:  The  support  of  new 
evangelistic  workers  and  primary  schools  in 
addition  to  the  church  property  investment 
totals  $3,086,500,  of  which  $1,880,500  is  to  be 
raised  in  North  America,  while  $1,136,000  will 
come  from  Cuba. 

An  interdenominational  normal  school  that 
shall  be  broadly  representative  of  the  best  in 
Christian  culture  is  planned  for  the  city  of 
Havana. 

Six  secondary  schools  of  various  types  through¬ 
out  the  Island  will  prepare  pupils  for  entrance 
to  the  government  professional  schools  as  well 
as  provide  for  the  needs  of  those  who  wish 
briefer  and  more  utilitarian  courses. 

A  great  union  English-speaking  church  with 
all  kind  of  institutional  features  is  projected 
for  Havana  to  minister  to  the  large  foreign 
colony  as  well  as  the  tourists  that  throng  the 
city  every  winter. 

The  prestige  which  the  Cuban  capital  enjoys 
throughout  Latin  America  as  a  center  of  culture 
is  to  be  unitilized  in  the  location  there  of  an 
evangelical  publishing  center  which  shall  pro¬ 
duce  Christian  literature  in  Spanish. 

The  combined  budget  totals  $4,066,500,  of 
which  $1,289,000  will  be  raised  in  Cuba,  and 
$2,807,500  in  the  United  States. 

America  has  put  across  an  adequate  program 
of  sanitation,  public  order  and  political  freedom 
for  Cuba. 

Will  the  Church  project  an  adequate  program 
for  her  religious  and  moral  freedom? 


HOME  MISSIONS:  West  Indies 


139 


Porto  Rico 

PORTO  RICO  is  said  to  be  more  responsive  to  the  message  of  the  gospel  than 
any  other  country  in  Latin  America.  But  until  the  American  intervention 
in  1899  the  type  of  religion  that  flourished  on  the  island  was  inclined  to 
be  one  of  rigid  formalism  with  a  naive  separation  between  religion  and  morality 
that  did  not  tend  to  improve  the  quality  or  influence  of  either. 

What  is  needed  is  a  dynamic  gospel  message  if  the  kindly  people  of  Porto  Rico  are  to 
become  Christians  in  more  than  name. 

Last  year  the  island  adopted  prohibition  by  a  vote  of  nearly  2  to  1,  the  influence  of 
Protestant  pastors  and  workers  being  a  powerful  factor  in  securing  this  result. 

Through  the  schools,  the  press  and  other  influences,  loyalty  to  America  is  rapidly 
developing.  As  the  average  of  intelligence  rises  the  demand  for  thoroughly  trained 
ministers  and  leaders  increases.  More  adequate  facilities  for  training  and  support¬ 
ing  such  must  be  provided. 

Most  of  the  Porto  Ricans  live  in  one-room  thatched  huts  in  small  agricultural  villages, 
and  are  mostly  in  a  state  of  poverty. 

The  first  census  taken  after  the  American  occupation  in  1899  showed  that  83  per 
cent,  of  the  population  was  illiterate.  American  supervised  public  schools  which  now 
enroll  175,000  children  have  greatly  improved  this  condition  for  the  younger  men 
and  women  of  Porto  Rico  and  for  the  rising  generation. 


A  FERTILE  FIELD 

ORTO  RICO,  with  3,888  square  miles  of 
area,  has  a  population  of  1,198,970  or  330 
to  the  square  mile,  making  it  one  of  the  most 
densely  peopled  countries  of  the  world.  It 
is  108  miles  long  by  36  miles  broad,  being 
approximately  the  size  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Delaware  combined  but  with  nearly  twice 
their  population.  It  lies  70  miles  east  of  Santo 
Domingo  and  1,400  miles  from  New  York, 
being  the  farthest  east  of  the  Greater  Antilles. 
In  spite  of  her  large  population,  Porto  Rico  is 
distinctly  a  rural  community,  having  no  large 
cities  and  with  a  majority  of  her  people  engaged 
in  agriculture. 

Porto  Rico’s  trade  with  the  United  States  in 


1915  amounted  to  over  $72,000,000,  of  which 
$42,000,000  was  the  value  of  the  exports  from 
the  United  States.  Her  commerce  with  other 
nations  is  almost  negligible  in  comparison. 
Sugar  growing  is  her  chief  industry.  Coffee, 
rice,  tobacco,  salt,  corn,  and  tropical  fruits  are 
also  produced  and  exported  in  considerable 
quantities. 

FORCES  IN  THE  FIELD 

LEVEN  American  Protestant  bodies  sus¬ 
tain  mission  work  in  Porto  Rico:  North¬ 
ern  Baptists,  Congregationalists,  Methodists, 
Disciples,  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians  United 
Brethren,  Christian  Church,  Evangelical  Luther¬ 
ans  and  the  Christian  Alliance.  There  is  a 


140 


West  Indies :  HOME  MISSIONS 


fine  spirit  of  cooperation  among  the  workers  of 
these  denominations,  which  has  made  possible 
many  practical  phases  of  missionary  comity. 

There  are  12,143  communicants  in  the  Protes¬ 
tant  churches  with  5,000  adherents  of  all  ages 
and  a  Sunday  school  membership  of  20,000. 
The  mission  stations  number  43,  with  323  sub¬ 
stations  accommodating  156  organized  congrega¬ 
tions.  These  are  served  by  a  Porto  Rican  force 
of  233  workers  with  134  foreign  missionaries, 
of  whom  45  are  ordained  ministers. 

EXCELLENT  SCHOOL  SYSTEM 

HE  educational  problem  of  Porto  Rico  is 
somewhat  simplified  by  the  presence  of 
excellent  public  schools.  Sixteen  isolated  dis¬ 
tricts  have  parish  day-schools  with  1,426  pupils. 
There  are  three  normal  and  training  schools 
where  some  theological  work  also  is  given  and 
three  residential  high  schools.  Better  facilities 
are  needed  for  these  secondary  institutions, 
especially  for  theological  instruction  and  for 
the  training  of  Christian  workers  and  teachers. 

OTHER  HELPFUL  AGENCIES 

EVERAL  Christian  hospitals  have  been 
developed  in  Porto  Rico  and  are  doing 
valuable  work.  Combination  orphanages  and 
industrial  and  agricultural  training  schools 
have  proved  very  useful. 

“Puerto  Rico  Evangelico”,  the  semi-weekly 
united  Protestant  paper  has  the  largest  circu¬ 


lation  of  any  periodical  on  the  Island  and  is 
most  helpful  in  its  work  and  influence. 

An  evangelical  bookstore  and  depository  has 
been  begun  and  must  be  enlarged  to  carry  on 
the  ministry  of  the  printed  page. 

WHAT  IS  NEEDED 

THE  following  is  an  outline  of  the  program 
of  advance:  buildings  for  new  Union 
Evangelical  Seminary;  increased  equipment 
for  union  printing  plant;  bookstores  in  San 
Juan  and  other  cities;  campaign  of  education 
by  social  reform  committee;  lectureships  and 
evangelistic  campaigns  for  reaching  all  classes 
of  people  with  the  gospel;  a  conference  center 
or  “Northfield”  for  developing  more  spiritual 
and  efficient  leadership;  extensive  enlargement 
of  Polyclinic  Institute  to  make  this  one  of  the 
outstanding  educational  institutions  of  the 
West  Indies;  development  of  Blanche  Kellogg 
Institute  as  a  training  school  for  Bible  women, 
Sunday  school  teachers  and  home  makers; 
additional  Porto  Rican  pastors  and  women 
workers;  chapels  in  unoccupied  country  dis¬ 
tricts;  parsonages  for  ministers'  families. 

Self-support  is  the  immediate  goal,  almost  in 
sight  by  city  churches  now. 

Mission  boards  of  each  communion  have  strong 
programs  emphasizing  the  following:  (1)  evan¬ 
gelism  (2)  self-supporting  churches  (3)  com¬ 
munity  service  (4)  social  reform  (5)  reaching 
neglected  country  districts. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  West  Indies 


141 


Jamaica 

JAMAICA,  the  chief  center  of  British  interests  in  the  West  Indies,  has  an  area 
of  4,207  square  miles  and  a  population  of  851,383,  both  slightly  smaller  than 
the  area  and  population  of  the  state  of  Connecticut.  Less  than  two  per  cent, 
are  pure-blooded  whites. 

Four  evils  are  gripping  the  people  of  Jamaica  and  an  appeal  for  liberation  from  them 
is  an  appeal  to  the  Christian  church  to  give  to  them  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

These  evils  are:  Illiteracy — less  than  one-half  the  people  can  read  and  write  and 
considerably  less  than  one-half  the  children  of  school  age  are  in  school. 

Superstition — which  always  goes  hand  in  hand  with  ignorance.  In  Jamaica  there  are 
many  superstitious  beliefs  and  practices  brought  from  Africa. 

Vice — more  than  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  children  are  born  out  of  wedlock.  Jamaicans 
are  not  naturally  criminal  but  they  are  easily  influenced.  Drinking,  gambling  and 
thieving  are  prevalent. 

Poverty— people  living  in  poverty  and  children  reared  without  proper  food,  clothing 
and  shelter  cannot  rise  above  the  evils  of  ignorance,  superstition  and  vice. 

The  people  must  be  taught  how  to  produce  more  in  order  that  they  may  be  led  to 
live  better  and  to  make  better  use  of  their  resources. 


THE  OPPORTUNITY 

HERE  are  thirty  thousand  East  Indian 
coolies  working  on  the  plantations  which 
form  a  distinct  group  and  require  attention  in 
a  very  special  way.  The  cultured  classes  which 
are  English  in  customs  and  ideals  are  ready  to 
cooperate  in  missionary  effort  but  must  have 
leadership  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  task. 
The  British  Government  in  Jamaica  is  also 
sympathetic  towards  missionary  effort,  es¬ 
pecially  along  educational  lines;  but  initiative 
must  come  from  the  churches. 

THE  FORCES  IN  THE  FIELD 

HE  American  Friends,  Christian  and  Mis¬ 
sionary  Alliance,  Disciples  of  Christ,  North¬ 
ern  Baptists,  African  Methodists,  all  work  here. 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  ADVANCE 

AN  INDUSTRIAL  school  of  sufficient 
JLm l  magnitude  to  provide  the  whole  island 
with  a  new  economic,  social  and  Christian 
spirit  is  needed;  also  a  union  theological  train¬ 
ing-school;  a  normal  school  to  prepare  the 
Jamaicans  for  greatly  needed  leadership  to  lift 
the  people  out  of  their  degradation  and  give 
them  proper  standards  for  life;  a  training- 
school  for  catechists  for  the  East  Indians  who 
are  numerous  on  the  island;  and  a  literature 
adapted  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  the  Jamaicans, 
especially  a  representative  Christian  periodical. 
The  American  boards  representing  the  Friends, 
the  Disciples  and  the  Moravians  are  each 
planning  a  gradual  increase  of  their  regular 
work,  especially  the  building  of  more  chapels. 


142 


West  Indies :  HOME  MISSIONS 


Santo  Domingo  and  Haiti 

WITH  a  heritage  of  centuries  of  slavery  and  exploitation  it  is  no  wonder 
that  government  in  Haiti  and  Santo  Domingo  has  been  unstable  for 
the  past  century. 

Once  the  most  prosperous  colony  of  the  Indies  with  cities  boasting  all  the  culture  of 
Paris  and  Madrid,  the  Island  has  lost  much  of  its  superficial  civilization  and  now  in 
its  remoter  parts  savagery  is  found  but  little  removed  from  that  of  the  Congo. 

Santo  Domingo  has  still  a  small  cultured  aristocracy  which  has  produced  literary 
works  of  merit;  but  this  only  serves  to  intensify  the  dark  background  of  the  prevailing 
poverty  of  life  and  remoteness  from  the  world's  onward  movements. 

With  few  passable  roads,  only  the  beginnings  of  a  railway  system  and  with  well-nigh 
universal  illiteracy,  the  poverty  of  the  government  and  its  instability  and  lack  of 
leadership  make  the  problems  of  education  and  of  Christianization  almost  akin  to 
those  in  virgin  fields. 

Illigitimacy  and  social  disease  are  the  rule  among  the  lower  classes,  especially  in 
Haiti.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  modesty  among  the  blacks  of  the  interior.  It  is 
to  such  surroundings  that  America  is  sending  thousands  of  her  young  Marines. 

The  island  of  Santo  Domingo-Haiti  which  Columbus  christened  Hispaniola  (Little 
Spain)  lies  between  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  with  an  area  of  nearly  30,000  square  miles. 
Santo  Domingo  occupies  the  eastern  two-thirds  of  the  island  and  Haiti  the  western 
third. 

Haiti,  the  Black  Republic,  with  its  smaller  territory  has  an  estimated  population  of 
2,000,000,  as  compared  with  Santo  Domingo’s  600,000.  Santo  Domingo’s  greater 
progressiveness  is  evident  in  the  fact  that  her  foreign  commerce  for  1916  totalled 
$33,000,000;  while  that  of  Haiti  for  1913  was  only  $17,000,000. 

The  island  of  Santo  Domingo-Haiti  is  one  of  the  richest,  most  beautiful  and  healthful 
of  the  West  Indies,  but  has  for  a  century  been  among  the  worst  governed.  It  has 
many  harbors  and  rivers  and  its  climate  is  modified  by  lofty  mountain  ranges  that 
contain  rich  minerals. 

Because  of  threatened  international  complications  due  to  the  long  unpaid  obligations 
of  the  two  republics,  the  United  States  has  for  some  years  exercised  a  protectorate, 
administering  the  customs  and  policing  the  two  countries  with  a  force  of  Marines. 


HOME  MISSIONS:  West  Indies 


143 


NO  SCHOOL  BUILDINGS 

0  SCHOOL  building  has  ever  been  erected 
in  all  Santo  Domingo.  Such  schools  as 
exist  are  housed  in  residences,  old  monasteries 
or  other  converted  structures.  These  provisions 
are  wholly  inadequate  to  meet  the  situation. 

Santo  Domingo  under  American  urging  now 
spends  $1,000,000  annually  for  education  while 
Haiti  with  her  three  times  greater  population 
and  need  spends  $300,000. 

A  Haitian  school  teacher  unable  to  sign  his 
salary  warrant  was  not  a  whit  embarrassed  at 
the  inconsistency  of  his  position.  “That  does 
not  matter,”  he  explained,  “you  see  I  am  the 
teacher  of  reading,  not  of  writing.” 

What  can  Christianity  offer  the  starved  social 
and  intellectual  life  of  Haiti  with  its  unmorality 
due  to  ignorance  and  the  darker  viciousness  of 
its  pagan  “voodooism”? 

FORCES  AT  WORK 

THE  Episcopal  Church  has  twenty-seven 
stations  in  Haiti  with  one  or  two  chapels 
in  Santo  Domingo. 

The  Weslyan  Methodists  of  England  have  long 
done  some  work  in  both  countries,  but  now 
only  support  two  missionaries  in  the  whole 
Island. 

Two  of  the  American  Negro  denominations  con¬ 
duct  evangelistic  work  in  the  Island  and  there 
are  a  few  scattering  independent  workers. 

What  is  said  to  be  the  most  efficient  boarding- 
school  for  boys  in  Haiti,  and  probably  the  only 
one  that  would  approximate  American  stand¬ 
ards,  is  conducted  by  the  French  Catholic 
Brothers  of  St.  Louis. 

The  Moravians  have  several  preaching  points 
in  Santo  Domingo,  but  only  for  English- 
speaking  negroes,  and  the  impression  is  often 
created  that  Protestantism  is  only  for  negro 
people. 

Most  of  the  Protestant  meeting  places  are 
mere  shacks,  though  a  large  brick  chapel  is 
nearing  completion  by  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  Port  au  Prince, 
one  of  the  very  few  representative  evangelical 
houses  of  worship  in  either  republic. 


The  only  places  where  Protestantism  is  meeting 
with  any  general  favor  are  in  a  few  of  the 
Haitian  cities  where  many  seem  attracted  by 
an  emotional,  revivalistic  type  of  service  that 
makes  no  persistent  effort  to  relate  itself  effect¬ 
ively  to  the  moral  and  social  problems  of  the 
people. 

The  great  village  and  rural  population  is 
untouched,  as  are  the  majority  of  the  urban 
folk. 

PROGRAM  FOR  SANTO  DOMINGO 

OR  Santo  Domingo  it  is  proposed  to  develop 
two  large  urban  centers  with  well  equipped 
social,  educational  and  evangelistic  work  at 
Santo  Domingo  City  and  at  Santiago. 

Industrial  schools  with  courses  in  trades,  agri¬ 
culture,  sanitation,  community  service,  prepara¬ 
tion  for  rural  teaching,  domestic  science,  etc. 
are  to  be  featured,  with  an  evangelical  book¬ 
store  and  a  large  union  hospital  and  nurses’ 
training  school  at  the  capital. 

The  institutional  churches  proposed  for  these 
centers  will  inaugurate  programs  with  lectures 
on  moral,  hygienic,  educational  and  religious 
topics  offering  courses  in  religious  education 
with  a  public  forum,  boys  and  girls  clubs, 
kindergarten,  night  school,  public  library,  clinic 
and  dispensary. 

Four  smaller  centers  are  to  be  provided  at  San 
Pedro  de  Macoris,  Puerto  Plata,  San  Francisco 
de  Macoris  and  Sanchez. 

PROGRAM  FOR  HAITI 

OR  Haiti  three  principal  centers  are  pro¬ 
posed,  at  Port  au  Prince,  Cape  Hatien  and 
Gonaives.  Similar  features  to  those  outlined 
for  Santo  Domingo  are  planned  with  an  especial 
emphasis  on  industrial  education  along  the 
lines  of  Hampton  Institute  but  more  elementary 
in  character.  With  several  such  institutions  in 
operation  it  is  impossible  to  state  how  much 
more  might  not  be  accomplished  in  a  few 
years. 

The  mission  boards  uniting  in  the  Committee 
on  Cooperation  for  Latin  America  have  agreed 
to  put  on  the  foregoing  program  for  Santo 
Domingo  and  Haiti  jointly. 


144 


West  Indies :  HOME  MISSIONS 


The  Smaller  West  Indian  Islands 

The  Windward  Islands,  the  Bahamas,  Barbados,  the  Leeward  Islands, 
Trinidad,  Martinique,  Guadaloupe  and  the  Virgin  Islands 

IN  ALL  these  islands  the  Negro  population  predominates.  Primitive  in  their  life, 
these  islanders  tend  in  most  cases  to  become  devotees  of  the  more  emotional 
types  of  religion,  both  Protestant  and  Catholic,  seeking  sensation  rather  than 
spiritual  guidance.  They  need  education  and  constructive  religious  leadership. 
The  island  Negroes  need  to  know  the  dignity  of  labor,  as  in  some  cases  false  notions  of 
caste  have  injured  the  usefulness  of  those  who  have  received  some  superficial 
education. 

Higher  social  ideals,  the  sanctity  of  home  life  and  a  general  enrichment  of  environment 
and  interests  are  needed  in  these  picturesque  tropical  islands,  so  many  of  which  are 
out  of  touch  with  the  sweep  of  modern  progress. 

The  Moravians  have  missions  in  several  of  the  Leeward  and  Windward  Islands. 

In  Barbados  and  in  many  of  the  lesser  Antilles  the  Salem  Baptist  Church  has  work 
which  it  hopes  greatly  to  enlarge.  The  Northern  Baptists  and  African  Methodists 
as  well  as  the  Christian  Missions  in  Many  Lands,  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland, 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  of 
England  also  sustain  work  in  this  group. 

In  Trinidad  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  are  well  established  but  have  been  hampered 
by  an  inadequate  staff  of  workers.  They  conduct  primary  schools,  a  girls’  school,  a 
college,  a  training  school  and  a  theological  college. 

In  the  Virgin  Islands  the  Reformed  Church  of  America  supports  a  church  at  St. 
Thomas  with  one  missionary  who  serves  also  as  chaplain  of  the  American  marine 
forces.  The  Moravians  also  have  work  there  and  other  communions  represented 
are  Episcopalians,  Wesleyans,  Lutherans  and  Roman  Catholics. 

Since  American  ownership  some  of  these  churches  have  made  connections  with  their 
communions  in  the  United  States. 

The  future  program  of  advance  consists  in  greatly  strengthening  present  work. 


INTERCHURCH  WORLD  MOVEMENT  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  SURVEY  DEPARTMENT 


SURVEY 

DEPARTMENT 


DIVISIONS 


BRANCHES 


r~  Fields 


*—  Coordination 


— j  Agencies 


r~  Fields 


AMERICAN 

EDUCATION 


—  Local  Church 


AMERICAN 
Religious  Education 


—  Community 


-j  Special  Groups^ 


AMERICAN 
Hospitals  and  Homes 


AMERICAN  MINISTERIAL 
SUPPORT  AND  RELIEF 


Coordination 


Organization  Relations 


Denominational  and 
Independent  Institutions 


—  Tax-Supported  Institutions 


Theological  Seminaries 

-f  Secondary  Schools 


— )  Coordination 


r~  Home 


— 1  Special  Fields 


-  FOREIGN 

Mission  Agencies 

Field  Organization 


Denominational  and  . 

Interdenominational  Agencies 


—  Research  and  Instruction 


Coordination 


Ministerial  Support 


Pensions  and  Relief 


SECTIONS 

-Africa 

-China 

-India 

-Japanese  Empire 
-  Malaysia,  Siam 
-Indo-China,  Oceania 
-Philippine  Islands 
-Latin  America 
-Europe 
-Near  East 


-Evangelistic 

-Educational 

-Medical 

-Social  and  Industrial 

-Literature 

-Field  Occupancy 

-Field  Conditions 

-Graphics 

-Statistics 

-Editorial 

-Research  and  Library 
-Cities 

-New  York  Metropolitan 
-Town  and  Country 
-Vvest  Indies 
-Alaska 
-Hawaii 

-Migrant  Groups 
— Cities 

—  New  York  Metropolitan 
— Town  and  Countrv 

—  Negro  Americans 
— New  Americans 

— Spanish-speaking  Peoples 
— Orientals  in  the  U.  S. 

— American  Indian 
— Migrant  Groups 

-Research  and  Library 
-Lantern  Slides 
-Graphics 
-Publicity 
-Statistics 

-Industrial  Relation! 


-Colleges 

-Universities 


— State  Universities 
_ — Municipal  Universities 
~  — State  Agricultural  College! 
— State  Normal  Schools 

E Theological  Seminaries 

College  Biblical  Departments 
Religious  Training  Schools 


E Comity  and  Cooperation 
Field 

Standards  and  Norms 


E Architecture 
Curriculum 
Teachers 

E Music 
Pageantry 

Non-church  Organizations 


E  Editorial 

Statistics  and  Tabulation 
Schedules 


